How do you do rivets?

S

SE18

Active User
Registered
I'm getting ready to do a mill attachment build for my 9A SouthBend lathe using L.C. Mason's Mill attachment plans from Science and Mechanics magazine. I don't have the link but you can google it and see the plans

plans call for some rivets. Says to get them red hot. Hole and rivet same diameter but on each side where the rivet goes there needs to be a slight counterbore (I am assuming that is so the rivet can mushroom at both ends).

That's about all it says, except to use "soft steel" to rivet the 2 plates, both of which are cold rolleed

So some questions.

I've got one of those worthless MAPP/Oxygen setups from Lowes. I'm thinking I don't even need the oxygen bottle. Just fire up the MAPP, heat round stock mild steel until it is red (bright red?). Then maybe take a ball peen hammer and hammer it in, holding the rivet with lineman's pliers

Then file away anything protruding

The rivets used are pretty small 3/16"

I'm thinking I might be able to use this technique in the future for even larger rivets up to 1/2"? As I don't yet have a welding outfit.

Thanks

DaveV
 
OldMachinist said:
I normally use store bought rivets, my air hammer and a block of steel to buck them.
Click to expand...

OK Don, Now I have a couple of questions for ya.

1 - Is that a special made tool for the air chisel?

2 - Do you use aluminum rivets or are they steel?
 
The tool is called a rivet set, it is a standard tool for air hammers. The rivets I had handy for the picture are zinc plated steel but you can get them in steel, brass or aluminum.
 
I have done riveting, but never hot..

When I did it on sheetmetal, we used a "rivet set". It has a hole the diameter of the rivets "shaft", and a domed recess to smooth things over. Drill or punch a hole in the two sheets to be joined, put the rivet through. Use the hole side of the set to make sure the sheets are pushed down against the head of the rivet. Hit the rivet (on the end opposite of the head) a couple times with a hammer to mushroom it a bit, then use the "domed" side of the rivet set to make a nice round head.

I have also done "pinning" on knife handles. Pins in this sense, are basically rivets without heads. Prep both sides of the hole by countersinking lightly so you have some draft. Cut a pin slightly longer than the finished distance. Put the pin in the hole. Place one side of the pin on something hard, and hit the other side with a ball-peen hammer.

Don't hit it to hard, you want to get a good rhythm going, and try to aim for the center. Hit that side a few times, them flip it over and do the other side. I think this is closer to the technique you want, and it's more or less what OldMachinist is showing (well, he has a power tool ARGH ARGH ARGH). I am guessing that heating the rivets up is to anneal them. I'm guessing you don't have to keep them hot while working, cause I don't see how that is possible given that as soon as you touch the parts to be joined, they are going to cool rapidly.
 
DMS, thanks, I'll try it first on scrap and report back. I'm going to travel for a few weeks (courtesy of the Army) so when I return I'll give er a whack
 
2x, 3x. 4x RIVETING HAMMERS

There are special rivet hammers for bucking aluminum rivets. The are available in 2x, 3x, 4x etc depending on the size of the rivets.
Air hammer tools do not have the right stroke for this kind of work. There is a cadance set up when riveting and it is dependant
upon the rate of the hammer along with the weight of the bucking bar. Failure to understand this phenomenon generally results
in work of poor quality. It's tough enough to do quality work with the proper tools.
 
"pinning" I guess, more accurately describes the instructions (per DMS's explanation).

It didn't occur to me that annealing would be the purpose of making them red hot. I was guessing that perhaps making them red hot increased the "plasticity of the steel" so that a 3/16 or whatever size "pin" would actually squeeze into a 3/16 hole and stay there.

come to think of it, those of us who in the past had nasty experiences in removing taper pins (but couldn't), were in effect, turning those taper pins into "tapered rivet pins" which is why taper pins should be removed with brass or aluminum punches, but that's a different story

Dave
 
I'm talking here about steel, not aluminum rivets.

But as an aside, and sorry to the author of this thread for hijacking it, :-) I build this all-sheet steel locomotive a while back using rivets and a rivet driver I picked up at Harbor Freight. Obviously, those rivets would not work for thick steel plating as used on a mill attachment. Here's a video of the riveted "critter"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeBLo4Ba8co
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top