Yo Gastrick

Gas,
When you did your door panels what kind of rivets did you use? Solid, hollow, or....?and what size?

Thanks,
C-dog

Those would be solid rivets. 1/8" dia. round head.

You gotta buck em, no rivet gun. Lotsa fun and time consuming

Thanks Gas, I would like to try it on somthing but I don't know what yet.

What do the tools look like?
How is it done?
Got any pictures?

Not pics of the finished product, we know what that looks like, great!!
Pics of the process.

Maddog, Ill see what I can dig up. Sometimes I get into the job and don't stop to take pictures of the process.

C-Dog, here's what the rivets look like. They go quick so get plenty. I think there's almost 250 rivets in my pair of door panels and well over a hundred in my rear panel behind the seats. I still have to do my kick panels.

Here's a short old video of the basics fellas. I'll give you some tool shortcuts later. Shortcuts as in they'll work fine as long as you are not building a certified airframe.

Click the screen!

tool

looks easy enuff ..I have some of these rivets they look like and feel like alluminum...has any one just made the tool from a HF air hammer ?? would i be right to see the bucking hammer just has a u or v notch in it??

Thanks Gastric, I think I understand that.

Hey Gastrick, while we got you here.............what ever happened to the machine shop that butchered up your Buick drums?? Did you get to talk to them yet?


Don

Back off Don, we’re trying to learn how to buck rivets here !

I’d like to see the tools that you used Gastrick.

Jeff

Yeah Don, get him all upset again and we will never see the photos.

Hey, Merry Christmas, guys.

Hey cycle, I was an aviation metal smith in the Navy, seeing that video brought back a lot of memories. the anvil that the guy on the left is holding has not changed in 50 or 60 years. the rivet gun on the right has changed to a one handed affair. the most important part of the riviet gun in the rivet set, that is the part that presses against the head of the rivet. the set has to have the same dome profile as the dome, or button head, of the rivet or it will flatten the head of the rivet. i would practice a bit before you start on some thing that you care about.

Hope this helps.

Pablo

So is the bucking bar a flat surfaced piece?
Could a guy dome a piece of steel rod to fit the rivet, weld a collar to the rod, and use it in a regular air hammer/chisel gun?

Jeff

Ya the bucking bar is a flat piece of metal, any hard metal will do. the rivet set could be fabricated from the anvil of a impact gun, but i think I would save the agrivation and buy one. give me a few hours, i will see if my buddy who is still in the Navy could liberate one lol

Pablo

I looked up the word Aircraft rivet gun, here is a link with a rivet gun, and rivet sets for the gun. the main diff between a pnuematic rivet gun and an impact gun is a rivet gun does not hit as hard, so it is easier to control. also the type of rivet you use, like a 6061 O is very soft, where as a 7070 T-6 is a very hard rivet.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/rivetgun2602.php

Okay fellas. I bought the rivet sets used and cheap. This is the set for 1/8 round head rivets in my fat dirty fingers.



And here's the cool part. The rivet sets will install into a standard air chisel. Add a regulator to the chisel and keep the pressure LOW. I just use a flat body dolly for the buck. There you have it. Now you know all of my secrets.

Now that's what I'm talking about.
Thanks man.

Jeff