Tools Compare

Questions:


1. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which Hand Squeeze Riveter to purchase??

2. Wicks seems to have a better deal, in so far as price goes. Are their tools lower quality?

Cleaveland seems to want more than twice the price.

3. Has anyone used an air rivet squeezer in place of a hand rivet squeezer?

4. Do I need a Rivet hand squeezer?

I would like to open the thread to any and all debate about tools. As a former owner a home remodeling business, I can appreciate opinions about tools. I would like to say thanks for any response, all this Aluminum Aircraft work will be new to me.

I can really only answer 3 and 4:

3) Yes
4) No (see 3 above)


Pneumatic squeezer did the job for everything so far.

For the price of Cleaveland's "Main sqeeze" + yoke, you can get a rebuilt pneumatic from The Yard. That's what I did and wouldn't do it any other way if I had to choose all over again.

Averys has one of the nicest hand squeezers.

Look at all the various discussions under the "Tools" thread of this board and I think a lot of your questions will be answered.

Good luck.

This thread was moved to the "Tools" Forum on March 21, 2017...one of the Moderators.

If price is an issue, a hand squeezer would be sufficient as opposed to a pneumatic squeezer. There are many brands out there and they probably all work pretty good, but some are better. Things to research include...what yokes are available for it, are they interchangeable with other squeezers and how easy are they to change. Avery's squeezer yokes can also be used on the C type pneumatic squeezer, so if you end up getting both types you can interchange the yokes. (And yokes are expensive!) At a minimum, you would probably want a 3 or 4" yoke, which can be used for both riveting and dimpling, as well as a no hole yoke, for those hard to get to rivets. There are many other yokes available, but you may not need them, especially if you are building a QB.
Of the types of pneumatic squeezers available, there is a C type and an A type. (The A type is somtimes called an alligator squeezer.) In my experience, I have used my C squeezer more than 90% of the time, but the A type is great for certain spots, such as installing nut plates on angles or longerons.
For me, it is easier to get a really good rivet with the pneumatic and it's definitely easier on the hands. Don't forget, you will also need to get the rivet sets as well. Sometimes they come with the squeezer, sometimes they don't.
The brands I have used include Avery's, US Industrial Tool and Cleaveland. You can't go wrong with Avery's, for the reasons mentioned above, but the others are fine, too. (Can't address ATS or other vendors since I haven't tried them.)

I purchased a used pneumatic c-squeezer from yardstore.com and have had no problems with it. It came with a longeron yoke (very useful) and I got a 3" yoke for it from eBay. Definitely get the quick change pins and adjustable set adapter.