Is riveting that much better?

[Chris Hibner]

Originally Posted by Trent B

That was my thought too. You say they weigh 1/10th of a steel bolt/nut combo. So throw 5 of them on to replace a bolt/nut and you are still under.

If you're trying to join two pieces of 1" aluminum at a 90 degree angle, you may not be able to do that (you would have a 1" x 1" overlap). You could use a 90 degree plate to do the joint and then use lots of rivets, but I would argue that a nut and bolt would be simpler and lighter at that point. I guess my point is, do whatever is simplest (KISS).

[Gdeaver]

Glue it, screw it, bolt it, rivet it, weld it. If the design is flawed it will fail.

[Trent B]

Case in point, for any large pieces of sheet metal (like many of the bots I have seen riveted) more rivets is probably better but I suppose its easier sometimes to bolt things like that together as sheet metal gussets would make it non KISS.

[Alex_Miller]

Last year we made this super awesome looking shooter guard for our turret wheel and it took us well into the morning, needless to say we forgot about rivets...

If you can't get a screw in there make sure not to forget about the rivets.

[,4lex S.]

Yes, yes it is.

For one thing, as awesome as welding is you are usually going to have two problems:
1) Frame distortion- Every frame I have designed that has been welded has warped to some degree (especially aluminium), this is not a happy thing to deal with (wheel contact, conveyor alignment... ).
2) Skill- My team was lucky to have a veteran welder around, but I have seen what happens when a new student tries to weld aluminium. It becomes more like modern art, and less like robot frame .

Bolts lose in the weight and remaining tight categories.

Rivets are light, easily installed and uninstalled, and create pretty solid joints when done correctly. I think every FRC robot has at least one application where rivets would be the most useful of all fasteners.

[samir13k]

im glad to see 1501 is known when it comes to riveting
our team has used over 10,000 rivets on our robots so far, almost 2000 in some robots. They are made out of a monocoque design, which is what aircraft use. solely sheetmetal and rivets, providing a strong structure. i think youll enjoy some photos of our bots.

www.huntingtonrobotics.org

all we use are hand rivet guns and a pneumatic rivet gun (used rarely)... i have spent all nighters riveting the bots together. but it creates an amazing end product. if you would like more info, pm me and i can get it to you. and yes we do make errors, but you can just use the same drill bit you used to make the original whole and drill the rivet back out. almost as if it were never there.

and klekos are a neccessity when building with this many rivets

[R.C.]

Samir,

The link doesn't seem to be working.

-RC

[samir13k]

lol whoops... thanks squirrel! i got a little ahead of myself... i corrected the link

[Trent B]

Since I do not have much experience with rivets, care to explain what the rather large things between the already finished rivets are?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamthr...7614958581531/

Are they a tool for putting on solid rivets or something?

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Trent B

Since I do not have much experience with rivets, care to explain what the rather large things between the already finished rivets are?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamthr...7614958581531/

Are they a tool for putting on solid rivets or something?

They are clamps, more or less.

[Aren_Hill]

those are called Clekos, they serve as a quick insert stand in for a rivet to get things aligned.
Think of them as vice grips for sheet metal joints, they hold everything in line when you start putting in the real rivets.

[Trent B]

So, they clamp it by slipping through the holes so other rivet holes will line up?

[Aren_Hill]

Originally Posted by Trent B

So, they clamp it by slipping through the holes so other rivet holes will line up?

effectively a stand in rivet, yes

[vivek16]

long answer: there are pros and cons of each.

short answer: YES

While I still use bolts for super high shear areas, 90 percent of the fasteners we used last year were rivets. Our entire robot was essentially 1/4" aluminum rivets, 1x1x1/16 aluminum tubing, and 4"x4" aluminum triangles for corner connections. We never had a rivet fail. Removal is easy as pie too, just drill through. Hole enlargement was minimal in my experience since the center of the rivet kept the bit straight.

I think someone said earlier that a team could dissassemble and reassemble a robot faster using rivets than bolts. I have to agree, you just have to drill through and re-rivet. I also hate having to tighten loose nuts so riveting is definitely my favorite.

-Vivek

EDIT: With a good square, you can get perfect 90 degree angles without machined corner braces. We just cut them on a miter saw and clamped everything down to a work bench and lined it up with a square. Make sure your holes are aligned though.

EDIT2: We probably saved a few pounds by using rivets too. They are SOO much easier to maintain. Sorry about the edits, I just really love rivets.

[Chexposito]

like most people said rivets are nice for more permanent uses. you have to drill them out if you need to undo the fastening.

i would suggest staying with the nut and bolt, but use locking washers or loctite. Or use the nuts with the nylon in the tips.