[Ri3D] Help BOOM DONE. Pop Rivets

[Joe Johnson]

Chief Delphi Community.
Pop Rivets. I love 'em. I hate 'em.

I use them some years. Others I shun them.

What's the consensus?

I bought a pneumatic pop rivet gun (Harbor Freight).

I am going with the larger rivets (#11 hole size).

Bengi Ambrogi (w/ team #131) swears by using epoxy in addition to pop rivets.

Artur Ostrowski (w/ team #469) swears by the "structural rivets" (e.g. McMaster 98778A511) rather than mambi pambi standard rivets (e.g. 97519A045).

I have had good success using "Very High Bond" double stick tape in conjunction pop rivets (e.g 76665A82) -- I use it not just as an added strength but as a fixture (stick 'em together, then drill, then rivet -- holds everything in place like a charm).

What do YOU have to say about Pop Rivets?

Tell all.

Dr. Joe

[Chris Fultz]

Joe - we have been using them more and more. much quicker than nuts and bolts or tape or other means. Pretty easy to use, and easy to remove if you change your mind.

We use them in light load places, to attach polycarb to aluminum structure, etc.

You might want a few sizes (for material thicknesses) to be sure you get a tight connection.

I heard a rumor the guys from 1501 use a few rivets ...

[Coach Norm]

We used rivets on sheet metal for the first time last year since it was our first sheet metal frame.

We also used rivets to attach our tread to our HDPE flywheel in our shooter this past year. We did got with stainless steel on this application though.

We used Clecos http://www.mcmaster.com/#cleco-style-clamps/=pvbbwvto help hold the sheetnmetal in place while we were riveting. We also use these for attaching our bumpers onto the chassis during the tournaments.

We have several pairs of Clecos pliers http://www.mcmaster.com/#cleco-style-clamps/=pvbcww

[Paul Copioli]

Joe,

Pop rivets since 2005 and never gone back. No glue, no double sided tape (although great idea for holding before drilling).

We use the regular aluminum mandrel 5/32 rivets almost everywhere. We also have steel mandrel 3/16 and 1/4" for super high load or in areas where I can only get a few rivets.

The key to rivets is to get the right hole size and don't overdrill. Next is rivets do not like tension, only shear. If you can't keep them primarily in shear or compression then use 1/4 or bolts.

Out robots have been 90% 5/32 rivets for many years now.

[MichaelBick]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

Chief Delphi Community.
Artur Ostrowski (w/ team #469) swears by the "structural rivets" (e.g. McMaster 98778A511) rather than mambi pambi standard rivets (e.g. 97519A045).

You should be able to use aluminum body, aluminum mandrel rivets. We used 3/16" rivets like this for everything last year. We also purchased the high strength rivets, but never had to use them.

[Wayne Doenges]

FRC Team 1501 T.H.R.U.S..T. have been using rivets since we started in 2005.
To date we have used over 10,000, 1/8" rivets
All but two robots have been fully Monocoqued robots.
We have 4 Cleco pliers, 400+ Clecoes (temp rivet), numerous rivet guns and 1 pneumatic rivet gun.
Generally we use .040 sheet aluminum. At stress point (bearing blocks) we rivet in 1/8" aluminum finger plates. We use different lengths of rivets depending on how many layers of aluminum we are going through.

[BrendanRadabaug]

As posted above about the rivets don't like tension, just shear. But we will use them everywhere and then go back after some testing and see which ones need bolts later. Just a couple bolts for structure and then rivets... rivets everywhere.

[Wayne Doenges]

Originally Posted by BrendanRadabaug

As posted above about the rivets don't like tension, just shear. But we will use them everywhere and then go back after some testing and see which ones need bolts later. Just a couple bolts for structure and then rivets... rivets everywhere.

You guys are amateurs
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/37470
2899 rivets

[DonRotolo]

In my job at an automotive company, rivets plus adhesive are used for structural collision repairs. A glued and steel-riveted joint is stronger than a bolted joint.

We use them mostly for lower-stress joints like polycarb to aluminum.

[Bryce Paputa]

What adhesive is used? Just a normal two part epoxy? We use steel 1/8th rivets to hold our sheet metal chassis together.

[Kevin Sevcik]

We use a lot of the aluminum 3/16" structural rivets to build superstructure from 1/16" square tube and bent plate. Aluminum because drilling out steel rivets is a royal pain, and we never need that strength anyways. Structural because they seem to have better pull-up and hole filling, and I can never get everyone to properly fit and drill every joint. In addition to the above advice, we've found that fit-up is important. If your fitup is bad and you have a gap after riveting, then the rivet and its hole is the only thing taking up the load. I'd imagine your tape + rivet thing mitigates this slightly with the tape taking some of the shear load.