Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Rotolo
We riveted most of the Kitbot connections, and left bolts in some others. I don't have a good photo - wait until later this weekend, after NJ - but IIRC we riveted all the places where there were 2 'bolts' holding something, and bolted the 'single bolt' places, with the notable exception of all the ones where they might stick out into the bumper space.
We were really unhappy with the Harbor Freight riveter, but didn't have the funds to get a better one. We did have to keep it leberally greased just to function - the problem was that it would not release the manderl after the 'pop'. One of these days, I'll try to figure out why that is so.
I like the idea of a pneumatic riveter. Almost as cool as a hand-operated hydraulic hole punch (which I first saw at Palmetto)
Don
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Don,
When some of the students and mentors had this difficulty with our HF riveter, it was often due to using the wrong mandrel on the front and improperly setting the length of the jaw assembly. The 1/4" mandrel is, in fact, big and sloppy on a 1/4" rivet. The smaller mandrel is for 3/16" rivets and it allows the jaws to push too far forward, preventing the popped rivet mandrel from releasing. Similarly, the jaw assembly can be screwed in and out to set the unclenched grip of the jaws. The closer this assembly is to the body of the riveter, the stronger the grip when pooping and the stronger the grip when unclenched. Moving the assembly out from the body loosens the grip.
As mentioned, you get what you pay for. We paid $50-ish for our HF rivet gun. So we've acquired a dirt cheap rivet gun to get comfortable with, at the cost of it needing some TLC.