Rookie problem Pneumatic Squeezer mushing rivets

[az_gila]

Try a #41 drill instead of a #40 for the holes before dimpling...

[rocketman1988]

And get a copy of the guide on rivets. If you read it, you will find that in a lot of cases, you do more damage trying to drill out a "bad" rivet. Most of the common minor errors, according to to guide, are still within 5% of full strength...

[bruceh]

Go down to your local Wal-mart, Staples, Office Depot and get some 3M Heavy Duty Clear Packing tape.

Use a small piece of the packing tape to hold the rivets in place for both squeezing and bucking. It helps immensely to have this third hand keep the rivets from sliding and shifting as you set them. The packing tape will also prevent the rivet sets from imparting any scratches or scuffing to your aluminum surfaces. This stuff is so much easier to use than the specialty riveting tape, which is too narrow and doesn't have as good of adhesion.

Tear off a piece of tape about 3" long. Fold over one edge about 1/4" to give you a handle to put the tape on and off the surfaces. A single piece will last for quite a long riveting session.

[eh_v8_tor]

. I was having similar problems when using the pneumatic squeezer. I even punched a figure 8 into one of the holes for the bottom rib of the rudder...but I digress.

Personally I've found that having a foot operated trigger for the squeezer was money well spent. It allows me to hold the squeezer steady... It does take some practice feathering the foot trigger as well as the hand trigger. Always practice on scrap pieces until you are comfortable with how the rivets will turn out.

Finally, if doing a small piece, i put the squeezer yoke in a bench vice. The yoke is protected from scratches by masking tape or plastic vice jaw inserts. The squeezer is held solid while the small piece is very light, and can be manoeuvred easily to get it square to the rivet sets.

Happy building,

Steve W.

[ERushing]

Bruce - With respect to your packing tape comment. I've been doing the same thing with Blue masking tape. Do you see any issue? My concern about using packing tape was the potential of the adhesive sticking to the aluminum skin after removal...

I'm a new and just want to make sure I'm not doing something stupid

[Steve]

As Steve M pointed out, your rivet is too long. As a rule of thumb, the correct rivet length is the workpiece thickness plus 1.5x rivet diameter.

[ao.frog]

My suggestion is that you borrow a hand-squeezer and first get some practice With riveting.

When you are satisfied With Your riveting skills, go back and use the pneaumatic sqeeezer again.

[n615ks]

See #9 above and when you make the actual squeeze, as stated before, make certain that the die is perpendicular to the skin, but also, squeeze the rivet VERY slowly a few times and see if that helps. We've all squeezed 1,000's of 3.5 rivets in 2 sheets of dimpled (Cleaveland Dies) 020, 025 and 032 material with success, so I question any problem with the hole size, unless you are over doing your deburring process. Your shop heads look good in general, but I see a few that ended up at an angle. Even if you bend them over a bit, the shop head should be parallel with the skin....unless you start at an angle.

[wirejock]

Originally Posted by ERushing

Bruce - With respect to your packing tape comment. I've been doing the same thing with Blue masking tape. Do you see any issue? My concern about using packing tape was the potential of the adhesive sticking to the aluminum skin after removal...

I'm a new and just want to make sure I'm not doing something stupid

Not answering for Bruce but I've used that trick since I started. Works great.
I pull several pieces. I flip them over and draw a big "x" on the sticky side for a target then rub them on the wood top of the bench so they don't stick so much on the skin. I make several so I don't have to stop. When they get messed up, fold them in half and toss on the floor, grab another and go.

[Ironflight]

Originally Posted by wirejock

Not answering for Bruce but I've used that trick since I started. Works great.
I pull several pieces. I flip them over and draw a big "x" on the sticky side for a target then rub them on the wood top of the bench so they don't stick so much on the skin. I make several so I don't have to stop. When they get messed up, fold them in half and toss on the floor, grab another and go.

Sounds like a lot of work! I use the low-stick Scotch Magic-tape....just the right amount of hold, comes off with no residue, and cheap.