[TheForge] rivets

[RIES NIEMI]

Are you riveting hot or cold?
As far as I know, only aluminum rivets are done cold with a pneumatic
riveter, and even then only pretty small ones.

We have been setting a lot of rivets lately, mostly with a 30 ton hydraulic
press cold, stainless up to 1/4" diameter, brass and copper up to 1/2". Some
of them wont fit in the press, so we do them by hand, and we heat up the
rivet with a torch, then use a hand set tool to beat them with a hammer.

If you remember from your old cartoons, rivets on skyscrapers were set hot-
lots of them seemed to end up down the back of peoples pants- little rivet
forges were always balanced on I beams fifty stories up.

Check out this company:
U.S. Industrial Tool and Supply Company
WWW.ustool.com
188-4-USTOOL

They sell all kinds of nifty riveting and sheet metal tools for aircraft
mechanics, including lots of back up bars for riveting, which are always
used, even in hot riveting steel rivets- Maybe you werent using a backup
bar?
Also, were you using the rivet length of  one and a half times diameter
sticking out the back? thats what I use for a round head. If the rivet is
too long, the head always gets ugly looking.

> Has anyone had any experiance riveting w/ an air hammer, the hand held
> variety?
> I have a chipping hammer you know a little jackhammer about 18" long, thought
> I would use it for riveting so cut of the chisle end on the tool , heated it,
> and drove a rivet head into it to make a heading tool. the way my rivets were
> located I couldn't get a straight shot at them so put an offset in the tool.
> I thought I was going to rivet like nobodys business,wrong.
> I bent rivets and formed heads off center like nobodys business.Finally wound
> up doing most of the rivetting w/ a hand hammer and punch and using the air
> hammer for the final shaping of the head.  I'm sure  the offset in the tool
> didn't help matters, but it sure seemed like I was hitting the rivets straight
> on. Any Ideas?
> Randy Mundt
> 
>