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on the original wheel , did you only rivet once? When we try the rivets are not reliable. We know why, but have a difficult time mastering riveting!!

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we took our andymark 6 in wheels on concrete for a day of presentations and by the end of the day brand new wheels were completely flat like yours

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yes, we use plenty of rivets. never had any problems.

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It was a parade that flattened these.

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if you are not using a pneumatic rivet gun i suggest that you get one. they seem to tighten it up a lot more 70 or 80 bucks good investment use steel rivets to

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Large head rivets work really well for securing tread. Otherwise, just be sure you're putting rivets in the "dip" of the tread as much as you can and use all of them. Going to steel isn't really much help and it just makes changing tread a ton harder. You just need the rivets to last as long as the tread.

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We used a little bit of glue too. Ours were on there pretty tight. Steel rivets helps as opposed to aluminium. We had an all aluminum rivet robot last year and we ended up popping the rivets left and right (especially in high impact/stress areas)(at least the rivets broke and not the frame itself).

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I guess its a double whammy for me, lol, we use a hand rivet gun and aluminum rivets!!
We have a pneumatic rivet gun and i tried using it today but I need to practice.

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we use a pneumatic rivet gun now, but have also had success with a good hand riveter. we drill through the tread and the wheel in one of the "dips" in the tread. when we rivet it by hand, I push down on the head of the gun real hard and a student runs the handle. If they get in good and tight aluminum rivets will work fine.

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Once you get a pneumatic rivet puller, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. It's hands down our best tool under $100.

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Under $50 actually. By far one of my favorite tools to have around the shop.

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When you factor in the cost of a compressor, it's not inexpensive. Unfortunately, neither of the teams I mentor has a compressed air line in their workspace.

A good hand riveter (all-metal construction with suitably long handles) works fine, in my experience.

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If a team is doing rivets in any meaningful qty, spending a few hundred bucks for a nice riveter and small compressor is well worth it.

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We had our first experience with an air-powered riveter this past year. Especially after doing the entire prototype robot by hand, I couldn't believe how we had survived without that tool. Made things go by faster and without less stress on a few select students ^^