Pop Rivetting

[asj1]

Could anyone point me in the direction of soem good instructions on how to use a pop riveter?

I bought a "lazy tongs riveter" , which arrived with no form of instructions whatsoever (mind you I don't suppose ascewdriver would arrive with instructions!), and have at last got round to buying various pop rivets intending to use this bit of kit to move a cleat on my boom, but as I have never done pop riveting before I don't really know where to start. What are the little white plastic bits for in the packets of rivets?

To get the old ones out do I just drill out the centre of the rivets and then they will fall apart?

Regards

 

[poter]

A good explanation Here
As far as the old ones are concerned - yes just drill the top off & the rivet will fall out. Just one point try & get the pin removed as well as its a great source of rust.

poter

 

[JayBee]

Monel rivets are best if joining stainless to aluminium and use some passivation paste like duralac to prevent electrolytic corrosion. The little white plastic bits are plugs for the hollow rivet heads.
A good tip is to use rivets which are the same length as the combined thickness of the two materials to be joined, plus the diameter of the rivet. Have a go at some scrap material first. Good luck.

 

[FAITIRA]

The white bits are plugs for the hole in the rivet when you have fitted it, if the old rivet turns when you try to drill it out, just file the head off carefully, as "poter" says, try to get the pins etc out if poss. tho, if they are monel the pin won,t rust but they can be a nuisance later. Make sure the new rivet is firmly, right in the hole before you put pressure on the tongs.

 

[VicS]

Extend the machine fully, put the rivet in the hole and fit the business end of the riveter fully onto the stem of the rivet. Then push. You presumably have different size fittings for the riveter for different diameters of rivet so make sure you are using the correct one. (If the rivets are a bit long for the job you may have to reposition the tool on the stem and have a second go at it)

Make sure he work is well supported and take care that the tool does not skid and damage the surface when the rivet snaps.

The plastic bits are to plug the hole in the top of the rivet once it is fitted.

 

[AIDY]

drill a hole dia of the rivit, not too much of clearance on the hole, an inteferance fit would be better. You may need to change the end of rivit gun for different sized rivet. If it a lazy tong should be a couple of end fitting's screwed in to the gun and a tool to change them, use the right size for your rivet.

Place rivet in the gun, then place rivet in the hole you drilled. With the rivet gun extented start pumping the gun. you should start feeling friction on the rivet as it swells, keep going until the end snaps off the gun will make a bang noise. Afterwards remove the stem of the rivet from the gun.

If you have white plastic plugs these push into the rivet afterwards. Dependant on the rivets you have you may need to use duralac paste to stop corrosion.

Edited......

beaten too it again with these speedy typers. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Norman_E]

Someone has already mentioned using monel rivets. If you are fixing a cleat you need to avoid using the ordinary aluminium rivets sold in the DIY stores as these are nowhere near strong enough to resist the shear loads you might put on them. Monel is a copper nickel alloy and much stronger, also more expensive and harder to find, though good chandlers should carry monel rivets.

 

[asj1]

Thanks to you all - I knew the forum would come up with some good advice.
Regards

 

[smeaks]

Monel rivets are expensive and as such if you have never used a gun before buy a bunch of cheap alloy rivets and pratice in the garage with an old tin can and a drill,

when the time comes to use them in anger you will know what to expect. The only "watchout" to give would be that when using long rivets sometimes you can fully compress the tool without pinging the pin, dont panic at that point, just remove the tool open them out rapply over the partly pulled pin and complete the operation.

have fun

 

[roger]

I suggest you try rivetting with monel rivets to see if the rivetter is strong enough. Monel rivets are very tough indeed. An ordinary cheapo rivetter is no use at all. I have a good one with lever arms about 18 inches long. This is very good but it cost about £40 ten years ago. If yours is not good enough you may be able to hire one.

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

I have not read the replies to this post yet, but I would suggest when using some s/s, or monel revits to first place the revit into the gun and very gently lock the jaws onto the revit mandrel (pin part), then offer the revit still in the gun into the hole and draw it up fully before extending the gun again.
The reason for above is that with some revits the pin slips back into the revit each time you try to reposition the gun on it after each full stroke, which prevents the gun getting a proper grip on the pin so you could be pumping all day and getting no where.
Hope this hasent confused you.
I personally would prefer to be pumping all day in other ways and going somewhere slowly /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[William_H]

I am really intrigued at all the advice to remove the pin remains after rivetting. I have used a lot of pop rivetts and never done this. Do the pin remains go down further into the hole to fall out the bottom. I can't imagine they go anywhere else.
I would hope that monel (or SS ) rivetts have a mandrel (pin) that is suitable for leaving in situ without rust corrosion etc. Certainly my mmast has many pins left in.
Pop rivets as you may have discerned have a tube with an expanded flat top. Into the tube is inserted a mandrel (pin) which has a knob on top. When the mandrell is pulled it is forced into the tube to expand the end of the tube to flatten it out and form the rivet. At a certain tension the mandrel snaps off leaving you with a pin to throw away and the short bit with the know still in place. The hole in the work must be large enough to take the tube but not so large that the knob can pull through the work. The pressure of the mandrel pulling against the tube is very high (enough to stretch and break the pin) so the tool must have a fitting (we call them nipples) must be big enough to pass the pin but no more. On Al rivets the aluminium can actually be pulled into the nipple if it is too big. If you are rough the pin can be pushed the wrong way out of the rivet tube. It need s to start with the knob right up almost inside the tube. If you have trouble getting the rivet into the hole. You can't bang the pin. You need to push the tube (rivet body) with a tube or fitting (nipple) the correct size and length so the pijn stays in place. ie use the pop riveter itself.

For a cleat on the boom you may find it difficult to get rivets long enough to reach through the hole in the cleat. You may in fact have to use either a self taper screw or a metal thread after tapping a suitable sized hole. In all cases get some Duralac or similar and coat the surfaces of the aluminium and the rivet or screw before insertion.
Caution it makes a mess and is a horrible yellow colour.

Having said that my preference is no cleats on the boom. Take the rope via pulleys back to the cockpit.For much easier adjustment.
olewill

 

[DavidGrieves]

Hi

Lots of replies and some good advice. Only one thing I'd like to add. You have to push quite hard on the tongs to snap the rivet off, when it does snap you might find the base of the tool then continues forward and scratches the alluminium mast removing the anodised coating. I have found it works best if I push with my right hand and once the rivet has started to form, pull the base of the riveter away(with left hand) from the mast.
Practice on some scrap, you'll soon get the feel of it.