I had to drill out a large amount of rivets on the boat in order to get the transom in and my hands already ache thinking about reinstalling them when I am done.
Add in 40-50 stainless steel rivets im planning on using in the near future and I am looking around at a battery or air powered rivet popper.
Anyone have any thoughts on them? Other than these two uses I'm not sure I would use it a huge amount, so it would need to be semi-cheap and somewhat questionable build quality may be acceptable.
I have bought and used two air-powered rivet guns from Princess Auto (Harbor Freight equivalent), one for me, one for work. They have worked fantastically.
I did 1000 3/16" rivets on my Locost 7, and it did not hiccup in the least.
They don't get used often, but I'm very glad to have one.
Another proponent of the HF pneumatic riveter. It is an awesome tool and a great bargain.
Just make sure you read the manual before use. You have to take it apart and fill a chamber with oil.
I bought a standard air power rivet gun from Harbor Freight years ago, since my last race car had a bunch of rivets in it. Works perfectly - among the best tools I've ever bought. Saves time, saves me from cramp in hands and makes consistent, pretty rivets.
I have Harbor freight air/hydraulic that has been problematic with the threads that hold the nose fitting. They are a different pitch than a US made unit. I had to re-thread it early on to keep it from self disassembling. Internal parts also unscrew themselves about every 200 pulls. Do not try to change nose fittings with the unit disconnected from the air supply. Only change them with the trigger actuated. Gripper jaws beginning to show wear after about 2000 rivets.
Still far better than hand pulling 800 rivets in 2 hours while the glue is still viable!
Thanks for the thoughts, folks. I'll wander to the hammer store in the near future.
I have one and it only works sporadically. Some days it will properly pull a rivet, and some days it doesn't work right.
I might be able to bleed the hydraulics or something, but I've not tried.
I have a pneumatic rivet puller. Purchased it from one of the aviation websites if I remember correctly Aircraft Spruce. If you have to pull a good number it's the only way to go. Each rivet is pulled consistently something that doesn't happen with a hand riveter. It's also fast.
On the subject of rivets they are all not equal. I would recommend going to a site like Aircraft Spruce and reading about the different kinds and for different uses. I have found Apex Rivets retain and seal the pulling stem offering good shear strength. For strength it's also important to match the proper grip length.
Have used HF ones and have a Marson Pneumatic. The Marson rocks, but they're not cheap and only worthwhile if you'll use it fairly often, for years. HF ones wear quickly then as mentioned need adjustment frequently.
I just so happened to buy the large HF hydraulic riveter today. This Berkeley tub uses 1/4" rivets to hold the stiffening ribs in place.
Yes I mean Berkeley, as in the car
Anyway. I mentioned earlier that you have to fill them with hydraulic oil. I certainly didn't know that when they were supplied to us out of the box back in the millwright days. We just screwed a fitting on them and got to work. They used to hit about 6 out of 10 rivets in one go but the other four required several squeezes of the trigger. Since I have learned that they are a air over hydraulic tool and properly fill the chamber I have never had a failure.
Out of the box
Unscrew the cap on the bottom. They even provide you with the spanner wrench in the package
Pull the piston out of the chamber
And fill that hole in the center with hydraulic fluid. I use jack oil
Reassemble and pop some rivets.
Also, folks have talked about them needing regular adjustment. There is nothing to adjust, check the manual. Replace the jaws if they start slipping, they include spares.
https://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/93000-93999/93458.pdf
I love these things and can find zero reason to spend more on a "better" one. I have probably run 1200 rivets on my 3/16 riveter and it still works like new
Good post. Thanks
In reply to Trent (Generally supportive dude) :
(Leaves for the garage to go fill up riveter with oil...)
TurnerX19 said:I have Harbor freight air/hydraulic that has been problematic with the threads that hold the nose fitting. They are a different pitch than a US made unit.
The one upside to Chinese made tools: metric fasteners!
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Not really an upside when the damn thing had only about a 30% thread to start with. It looked like a damaged Acme thread in miniature. When the trigger is released the jaws push on the nose, until it pops off the tool altogether. I used a keensert in the nose holder and now it fits the US threaded noses from an old US Shoe hand riveter.
I bought one of the drill attachment rivet guns when we were building the Exocet, which had lots of rivets on the floor, firewall, etc.. Was a huge help over putting 18 bazillion rivets in with a hand riveter.
Another vote for the basic HF pneumatic one. Bought it when I was putting a new floor on the old Reynard FF. Since I was also using structural adhesive, time was of the essence (and there a LOT of rivets on the floor pan of an old Reynard). More recently, I discovered that I am apparently not man enough to pull the long rivets that are used on a headlight bucket of a TR6, so I dug the thing out, and it worked perfectly after a decade of sitting. Forgotten how much fun it was to use.
Zombie thread, but you can also get an attachment to turn your cordless drill into a riveter. They work much better than manual riveters and are great for say ~50 rivets.
Hundreds? Get an pnematic one for sure.
I bought a cheapie HF pneumatic rivet gun to do about 300 rivets. It worked flawlessly and I don't see myself ever doing them by hand again. Remember to fill them with oil, they ship empty. Many of the bad reviews of pneumatic guns are people who didn't add oil.
this $50 model:
https://www.harborfreight.com/3-16-inch-air-hydraulic-riveter-93458.html
Big user of the HF riveter here.
I read the directions on #1...filled with oil...it just got oil everywhere...a big mess. It failed later. (they all will eventually for various reasons.)
I think they are ready to use out of the box. That's an air cylinder not an oil cylinder.
I do liberally oil the head and the air inlet before I use them...and occasionally take them apart to lube.
Early on I would be happy to use one and throw them away after 2k rivets, because that's what each specific project entailed.
I'll bet we've been on the same few for 3 years now, with the last year being our busiest....probably 20k rivets easy.
jamscal said:Big user of the HF riveter here.
I read the directions on #1...filled with oil...it just got oil everywhere...a big mess. It failed later. (they all will eventually for various reasons.)
I think they are ready to use out of the box. That's an air cylinder not an oil cylinder.
The manufacturer disagrees
Are there smaller size riveters , a smaller "can" so you can get into tighter places ?
It's funny how life works. This is a timely thread for me. I'm about to start construction of a powder coating oven that will take a couple thousand rivets.
I didn't have to fill mine, but it's at least 20 years old. I did have to refill it once, about five years ago. It got to the point where it wouldn't pull far enough.
Mine, I need to ensure the rivet stud exits the machine before pulling a second one. At least with 1/8 inch tivets, the studs can jam up on exit instead of pushing the previous one our.
Streetwiseguy said:Mine, I need to ensure the rivet stud exits the machine before pulling a second one. At least with 1/8 inch tivets, the studs can jam up on exit instead of pushing the previous one our.
I can confirm that this is not an issue with the newer $50 HF version. At least it wasn't for me. If the rivet stud didn't fall out, the next one would push it out.
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