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Coating Steel plate used for back-riveting

newimaging

Active Member
Is it ok if I coat the steel plate I got for back riveting with something that keeps it from rusting, or would that affect the alluminum when riveting once the two touch with such pressure?
 
The coating will be on rivet heads

Is it ok if I coat the steel plate I got for back riveting with something that keeps it from rusting, or would that affect the alluminum when riveting once the two touch with such pressure?


Christian,
Do not coat it just clean it nicely and keep in dry place. Your guess is right - under such a high pressure everything will stick to rivet head and surrounding aluminum. Leave the plate as it is. You will be taping over those rivet heads before backriveting.

Nice workbenches!
 
Plating

You could have it electroplated. Zinc plating is fairly cheap and nickel plating looks really nice, but expensive. Plating with either zinc or nickel would be durable and stand up to riveting, but it'd be a lot cheaper to just use some Boeshield T-9 on it to keep the rust away.
 
Applied a little oil to mine then buffed it out

no rust yet. I have it in a conditioned garage so that helps. Like Vladyspassky said you want to apply riveters tape to rivets beforehand and you will clean everything before painting.
 
Mine started getting a little bit of rust. I took a maroon scotchbrite pad to it, then put a couple of drops of oil on it and wiped it down with a paper towel. Looks like new again.

I can't imagine that the little bit of oil on there would affect the aluminum during riveting. You can always wipe the oil away with some acetone.
 
I use Topcote on mine. It's designed to slicken and protect metal saw tables, etc. It does not contain silicones.
 
I heated up the plate and then melted some of the boelube paste onto it (melts like wax). I then wiped off the excess and buffed the plate with a cloth. I have not had any rust in over a year with one application. With the high humidity we get here, everything else in the shop rusts pretty quick. It is 66% humidity here right now, dew point 73 F.
 
How are the small bucking bars made ? They don`t seem to rust at all. Is that the material called Tungston ? But I don`t think all of them are made of that either.
Sorry to sound ignorant, but I know absolutely Nothing about metals.
 
How are the small bucking bars made ? They don`t seem to rust at all. Is that the material called Tungston ? But I don`t think all of them are made of that either.
Sorry to sound ignorant, but I know absolutely Nothing about metals.

Most are some type of cast steel and fully capable of rusting. Others are tungsten. Besides the tungsten ones being much more dense, they're also much more expensive.
 
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