Tip: Organizing Rivets

I searched and tried various methods of organising my rivets with no success until now.

I hope you LEARN from my experience and find it USEFULL!

Initially I kept my rivets in the brown bags Vans send them in, but the bags get worn, is difficult to organise and one do not have a single view over all the bags to pick the right one immediately.

Then I put my rivets into the carry case bin organisers, similar to the picture at the bottom of my post:

• I found it difficult to take out a whole lot of rivets at one time and I almost always dropped some into the next bin, combining different types, then having the search for that dropped rivet.
• The carry bin organiser is so big it gets in the way and then it is easy to accidentally drop the case while riveting, which means all the rivets land up on the floor, causing havoc to arrange them again.
• The size is inconvenient to work with.
• You will have to use multiple carry case organisers to sort all the rivets.

Then I tried the bin organise type that works like stacked little drawers, similar to the type Davepar uses in the next post:

• This worked much better as long as you keep the same rivet size per little drawer.
• Unfortunately the little drawers do not have a lit, to seal up
• This is expensive but very neat option ,
• and it takes up a lot of space

Then I stumbled on the best FREE option: Old 35mm camera film canisters.

• It is Free, just go to you local photo developing shop and ask them to keep them for you, since they usually throw them away. Give them a plastic bag and within a couple of days you will have a lot.
• It is clean due to the nature of film, people usually keep the canisters clean.
• You do not have to take of messy stickers usually found on other used household canisters.
• It is small and easy to handle.
• It has a lid to seal it up.
• You can write on the lid with your trusted sharpie pen, if you get the grey or white lids.
• You?ll be surprised at the amount of rivets it will hold, and it is easy to have numerous of the same containers if required. (I used bigger containers for the large amount of rivets (3-3.5 & 3-4) but poured some over into smaller Film Canisters while working.
• You can easily fit all the film canisters into a single carry case bin organiser.
• I have printed out the labels on an ordinary black and white printer on normal paper cut them out, and attach with clear sticky tape.
• Here is the Microsoft Spreadsheet if you want to use my labels.

If you have better rivet organising tips add them here.

Kind Regards
Rudi

All the tools required to do the job


Can you believe this is all the wing kit rivets in such a small combined space? Previously I had to use 3 of these organisers.

Another idea:



The bins pull out, so you can take them to where you are working. I have 3 of these now to hold all of the rivets and hardware through the finishing kit.

Dave

Ditto Dave's set up for me

The only thing I found was that when I took the rivets I had soaking in MEK for riveting the fuel tank and put them back in the drawer while still wet, the drawer melted.

Not really a big deal but there are some rivets permanently stuck to the drawer.

Two other things:
1) I have started drawing the rivet symbols on my drawers pull them out.
2) Write the rivet sizes on the part you are riveting together. This is most helpful when you get to the fuselage as the rivet length will change as you go down a line.

Advocate of film canisters

Ditto Rudi's idea, but with a modification. This is not my idea. I got it from Wally at the SynergyAir workshop I attended.

To make the use of the film canisters easier, drill a hole in the lid with your unibit--just large enough so that if you shake it the rivets fall out a couple at a time, but not so large that if you drop it on the floor a whole bunch fall out. I almost never have to take the lid off the canister at all.

The other advantage of this is that there is really no way for rivets of one size to get mixed in with another. I can't tell you how many times I've knocked canisters of rivets to the floor. If they had been in open containers I would have had a big mess!

I'm into my wings now and love this method. Plus it was FREE.

After spilling an entire tray of all sizes and then sorting them until I almost went blind, I went to Home Depot and got these. The bottoms come glued
on and the tops are hard to pull off.

Great idea Jeff. They remind me of those old rubber change wallets you used to get from your salesman or something. (No offense to salesmen out there! ) Your method seems to be one step more advanced and useful than mine because you can get a lot out quickly if desired. Maybe I'll take a look next time at HD or Lowes.

Steve

Impovements

Well I definitely learned two more things I'm going to do to the FREE film canisters idea:

1. Use Davepar's idea and use Masking tape as Labels on the canisters, it is quicker and easier to write than to print, cut and stick down labes with sticky tape. (not as neat though)
2. Use alpinelakespilot2000's idea to drill a Hole in the lid with your unibit--just large enough so that if you shake it the rivets fall out a couple at a time.

This is what makes this forum great, you start with a good idea and with others adding to it, it becomes fantastic.

Regards
Rudi

Thanks, and they are very easy to put back in. You can just trow them on the floor if needed and none come out.