rivet selection

[Seaspan]

Well I am a pin head when it comes to selecting revits for our boats

Anybody know what rivet am after? I am looking for a 3/16-1/4 inch rivet that has a ½ inch dome head (with no hole like pop rivets) the rivet must be finished off on the other side (circular and flat) The rivet must have good pulling ability and suck material tight.

[FAST FRED]

These are callded Driven rivets and you need a rivet gun with proper sized head former and a "Bucking" bar or hardend weight behind the rivet to set it.
You will also need a rivet sheer , a hand tool that cuts the long rivet to the leginth you need.

Aircraft Spruce & Specialty , has a great catalog to see the tools you neded , although a bit more expensive than really hard shopping.

Byler Rivet supply , www.jbyler.com is also a source with catalog.


Have fun its a snap after the first few!

FAST FRED

Very easy to learn

[John Perry]

I assume that we are talking about aluminium rivets, not steel or something else.

I agree with what Fast Fred says but I would just add that for one off home building projects I have found it possible to use this type of rivet without any special tools at all. Mostly I have used the flush head driven rivits for which you only need a flat metal block/flat ended bar and a hammer. If you are not looking for a high production rate this type of rivit seems all round better to me than pop rivit, provided that you have access to both sides of the joint, which of course is not always the case.

Of course if you are doing professional/production work, espeicially on aircraft or critical components then you need all the equipment, but for the home boat builder this is a strong, simple and cheap way to fabricate aluminium alloy which gives neet flush surface without TIG welding etc.

John

[duluthboats]

Aluminum rivets come in a variety of grades and material composition some will require heat treatment before they are driven. They are heated and quenched to make them soft, and then must be kept cold until they are driven. If you are just replacing just one or two buy them soft, T-0, they will fill a hole but have little strength, you can install them with two hammers. If you are using a lot of them let me know and I can point you at some references. All of the major transport jets are held together with rivets.

The rivet will not pull two sheets together, if you have a gap before they are driven the gap will still be there afterwards. You should also use a sealant between the sheets and in the hole before the rivet is installed.

Gary

[Seaspan]

Thanks all for your help, Yes I'll be looking at using sico flex between metals to be riveted and will stick to the same alloy as the metal. Hopefully this will work out. I thought I was looking for a compression rivet which is two parts (male and female) I thought this would do the trick and suck the material tight...

[duluthboats]

"I was looking for a compression rivet which is two parts (male and female)"

If that is the case then I can't help, I know nothing about this type.

Gary