#RIVET GUN USES SKIN#

If you try using it as a rivet gun, you will stand a good chance of denting and damaging the soft aluminum skin around the rivet you are attempting to drive (set).Ī rivet gun's blows, on the other hand, are typically slower and you can exercise far better trigger control over its impact rate. The problem with an air hammer is that it simply hits too hard and too fast. Although the thing might look like a rivet gun, and sound much like one, too, a rivet gun it ain't. Don't goof and be fooled into buying an air hammer or air chisel just because the price is enticing. Be sure you get the type of gun you need. If you don't already own a suitable rivet gun and are in the market for one, check around with other builders before you buy. This must be done not only to seal out moisture and corrosion, but also to improve overall appearance. Another disadvantage, pop rivets, being hollow, also introduces the need for sealing each of the holes in the installed rivet heads. Futhermore, pop rivets are more likely to loosen under prolonged vibration. There can be no doubt that such an assembly, riveted together with solid rivets, is more reliable, and generally stronger than one similarly put together with pop rivets.Īlthough pop rivets are easier to install, they are complex to manufacture and, as you might expect, are more expensive to use than the solid type rivets. Properly set, the compressed rivet solidly locks the riveted parts together permanently. Then, as the blows (impacts on the rivet) continue, the shank end of the rivet becomes compressed and flattened, forming what is known as a 'shophead'. The net effect of this coordinated hammering and bucking action causes the rivet to swell, filling its hole tightly. (A solid rivet can also be 'set' with a rivet squeezer.) Then, and only then, the other end - the one with the manufactured head - can be 'driven', or 'set', by impacts from a rivet gun fitted with the correct rivet set, or by the hammering blows of a hand wielded ball peen hammer.

To drive (set/upset) a solid rivet after it has been inserted in a rivet hole, the protruding stem (shank end) of the rivet must be backed up or bucked by a 'bucking bar'. A rivet gun, a bucking bar and a rivet set. Furthermore, you will have to become proficient in the use of a few special tools. You do not enjoy the luxury of that pop rivet 'blind' feature because you absolutely must have access to both sides of the parts being riveted. Unfortunately, it's quite different with solid rivets. even if you don't have access to the back side of the parts being riveted together.

#RIVET GUN USES INSTALL#

For one thing, you can install those hollow-core pop rivets working alone with only a simple hand operated pop riveter. I tend to keep them as they are useful little pins that I've found dozens of uses for over the years.Installing solid rivets in an aircraft structure requires considerably more know-how and skill than does working with pop rivets. The mandrel can be thrown away after you're done. Pull on the gun's trigger to pull the mandrel through. Insert your rivet into your pre-drilled holeįirmly press your rivet into the pre-drilled hole, with the nub completely clearing the hole. The 'nub' end of the rivet will be pointing away from the gun. The head should be pushed firmly up against the end of the gun. The blind rivet gets inserted into the riveting gun via the mandrel. So if you are riveting together two pieces of aluminum which are each 3mm, you should add them together and multiply by 1.5 to give you 9mm for your rivet length. The length of your rivet should be at least 1.5 times the thickness of both of your work pieces together. You can measure the depth of your materials with a good caliper. Select a rivet length that will fit your work pieces. Remember to use a center punch first because a bit will tend to wander on metal without some sort of initial guide. I find that clamping the two pieces together first ensures that the hole that I drill is exactly where I want it. You'll start by drilling a hole through your two work pieces. The size of the rivet will define the hole that you will need to drill.

Select the smallest gauge that you think that you can get away with. Rivets come in different gauges, which means that you have an assortment of options.

Rivet gun uses