This last year my team just started using rivets instead of bolt. Have only a hand rivet gun things went slow, so as a gift I want to buy my team a pneumatic rivet gun. I started by buying a Harbor Freight rivet Gun, sadly it could not get it working and when I when and asked for assistance the store clerks blatantly lied to me. So returning that.
So I am currently looking for a sub $80 pneumatic rivet gun that works on our shop air which is 90 psi. The ones I am currently looking at are:
The Harbor Freight Pneumatic Rivet Gun has worked perfectly for our team. 100% success, no bad rivets. Cheap enough to buy a replacement if ever necessary. As long as it is well oiled and maintained, it is a reliable product.
On a related topic, how do you decide how many rivets to use for a given application? We’ve probably been over-killing on bolts in recent years, but are moving towards rivets for more and more functions as we move from angle and c-channel extrusion from a local aluminum supplier to an increasing use of VersaFrame stock.
For all of you with the Harbor freight rivet gun, how did yo remove the bottom cap to prime with fluid? It will not budge for me. I am on my second one and it will not come off. :mad:
Umm. The very technical method of educated guessing based on pure mimicry of Vex Pro gussets. Also you could factor in loads applied to rives and then figure a good safety factor for your application. I like to use now fewer than three rivets per item being fastened.
5th-ed. I don’t know the answer to your question, but I do know that we used the same Harbor Freight pneumatic rivet gun that our mentor used to assemble his kit airplane until it finally bit the dust. It just works until it doesn’t and then you buy a new one because it’s so cheap.
I can’t think of why you’d want to remove the bottom of the HF gun. If it needs priming just take it back and get another. We’ve never needed to prime the ones we’ve gotten.
It wasn’t easy but with a lot of persuasion, it will go. There may have been a hammer involved to assist. I can’t quite remember though, it was a couple years ago. The thing still pulls good.
Just decided I would try it. Turns out it works without priming. Said on the box that it came with out fluid. Looks like I have a nice Christmas present from my team now.
2815 had the Harbor Freight gun the last year I worked with them. Worked like a champ once we figured out the oil situation and installed the right items into our air supply, though we still used our hand riveter a good bit due to some tight spaces caused by using angle aluminum as a gusset rather than flat plates. These days, less of an issue.
The translation of the rivet gun’s operation manual from Chinese to English leaves a lot to be desired. It is not hydraulic in the traditional sense of using oil as a working fluid. It uses oil for lubrication. A few drops of light machine oil in the air inlet occasionally for lubrication is all that is need. No disassembly required. I use 3 in 1 oil.
I considered doing that as a gift to my new team but ordered this from Amazon.ca instead. It was $71 back in June when I ordered it, probably cost about the same or better than the HF after you factor in exchange and gas.
Just because you have 90psi does not mean you have enough flow(volume)to operate a pneumatic air tool. You need to look at the CFM on the compressor and air tool to make sure you have the volume.