Rivet tools--what's out there today?

[Jeffy]

Have been using the non-pancake version of that compressor in our garage for 5 years now. No problems.

one note: The pressure gauge on that comes with the compressor does a very poor job of keeping a constant pressure coming out. Shouldn't be much of an issue for riveting, but could cause troubles in other applications.

[sanddrag]

I have far above average grip strength (from working with tools often), and I still hate pulling rivets manually. Don't ever use a pneumatic rivet puller unless you never want to manually pull a rivet ever again. We bought a Harbor Freight one but haven't used it yet.

[DonRotolo]

As royster44 mentioned, use the manual riveter at competitions, meaning you can ditch the compressor completely.

We have a Harbor Freight pneumatic riveter, but we have hardly used it so I cannot vouch for its durability. It pulls 1/4" aluminum rivets effortlessly.

In addition to the smaller hand riveters, we also have a " big daddy" hand riveter. In my estimation one could have assembled the George Washington bridge with it, as it appears to be built to last forever. Not inexpensive though.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

In addition to the smaller hand riveters, we also have a " big daddy" hand riveter. In my estimation one could have assembled the George Washibton bridge with it, as it appears to be built to ast forever. Not inexpensive though.

1618 had that riveter as well. About $100 as I remember, but probably the coolest item in their arsenal. If the IFI kitbot had persisted, we'd have bought one by now for 2815. But with the C-Base, we just haven't had the need for the 1/4" rivets that give it the reputation it has.

Pending the green light from the financiers, I think we'll be acquiring this Harbor Freight one for next season. At $40, it only costs us two hand riveters (and we'll blow through those anyway).

[MichaelBick]

Originally Posted by R.C.

Billfred if you are doing normal pop rivets. We use #10 bolts, #9 drill, 3/16" rivets, here is what we get:

McMaster - Rivets

Rivets 3/16" Rivet - .251"-.375" Grip - Plain - HS McMaster 98778A501 $10.06 Aluminum
Rivets 3/16" Rivet - .375"-.437" Grip - Plain - HS McMaster 98778A502 $12.95 Aluminum
Rivets 3/16" Rivet - .251"-.375" Grip - Plain McMaster 97447A055 $11.19 Aluminum
Rivets 3/16" Rivet - .376"-.500" Grip - Plain McMaster 97447A060 $8.94 Aluminum
Rivets 3/16" Rivet - .751"-.875" Grip - Plain McMaster 97447A071 $8.82 Aluminum
Rivets 3/16" Rivet - .251"-.375" Grip - Black McMaster 97526A411 $8.28 Aluminum
Rivets 3/16" Rivet - .376"-.500" Grip - Black McMaster 97526A421 $8.94 Aluminum

*Price may be out of date.

#9 Drill - Most of our stub drills:

Maritool

Riveter:

While the Manson one is pretty awesome. For teams I'd recommend these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-16-in...ter-93458.html

or

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-qua...ter-98898.html

I know these are from harbor freight but these are so cheap its hard not to get them. We've had our guy since 2010 with no issues. We originally planned to use it for a season and get a new one. We have new kids each year (like everyone else) and they manage to find a way to break/mess up the assembly tools. So for them to break this guy is really no big deal, its also mega easy to repair. Also riveting 3/16" or bigger by hand is a pain in the rear unless you have this guy:

Big Daddy - really nice to have one around.

IMO, most small hand riveters are pretty awful for sizes 3/16" or 1/4". We like the pneumatic guy and the big daddy. Very rarely do we need to use the small hand guy (we do have a few tho).

-RC

RC when do you use the wide domed rivets. Do you also use 1/8 or do you use 3/16 exclusively?

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by MICHAELABICK

RC when do you use the wide domed rivets. Do you also use 1/8 or do you use 3/16 exclusively?

Micheal,

We do not actually use wide domed rivets. For some reason we prefer the smaller guys. No real reasoning, maybe price? or the ability to get all of the same kind? I honestly couldn't tell you what our thought process was here.

But we use 3/16" on our entire bot, its easy to go:

We have a #10 hole, we can:

-Bolt
-Rivet
-Ziptie!

Makes life easy for us as designing in another set of holes would be a pain, we stole from 973 the #10 bolt pattern idea. So we put #10 holes every .5" inches. We also make a lot of changes on our bot, so the bolt pattern is pretty sweet and versatile.

The 1/8" rivets aren't used nearly as much, the reason we actually have them is we spend a lot of time letting new kids explore ideas and making prototypes. We buy 1/32" - 1/16" polycarbonate (3-4 sheets) and a ton of 1/8" rivets, this allows us to make prototypes cheaply and easily. The 1/8" rivets are really easy to use with a manual riveter. 1/8" rivets have a purpose, but they are not really used on the bot.

-RC

[MichaelBick]

Originally Posted by R.C.

Micheal,

We do not actually use wide domed rivets. For some reason we prefer the smaller guys. No real reasoning, maybe price? or the ability to get all of the same kind? I honestly couldn't tell you what our thought process was here.

But we use 3/16" on our entire bot, its easy to go:

We have a #10 hole, we can:

-Bolt
-Rivet
-Ziptie!

Makes life easy for us as designing in another set of holes would be a pain, we stole from 973 the #10 bolt pattern idea. So we put #10 holes every .5" inches. We also make a lot of changes on our bot, so the bolt pattern is pretty sweet and versatile.

The 1/8" rivets aren't used nearly as much, the reason we actually have them is we spend a lot of time letting new kids explore ideas and making prototypes. We buy 1/32" - 1/16" polycarbonate (3-4 sheets) and a ton of 1/8" rivets, this allows us to make prototypes cheaply and easily. The 1/8" rivets are really easy to use with a manual riveter. 1/8" rivets have a purpose, but they are not really used on the bot.

-RC

That was my mistake on the wide domed rivets. When I saw the link for the "Domed for Wide Thickness Range" rivets I somehow thought that they were wide domed. Thanks for the information about the 1/8" rivets. We have been planning to steal the same 973 bolt pattern, and it is good to know that the 3/16" rivets will handle all of our needs.