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Re-squeezing rivets

R

rickmellor

Well Known Member
When looking over some of my earlier rivet work I see a few that I would like to squeeze a bit more. Is there any concern with doing this? I'm thinking there's some possibility of work hardening from the first time I set the rivets and smashing them a bit more would cause cracks in the rivets. Maybe I'm just smoking something ... thoughts?

-Rick
 
Rivet touch ups

I occasionally go back and do rivet touch-ups. Sometimes it takes a few shop heads to get in the groove. Just like playing the banjo. A little warm up then you find the zone. The perfectionist side of me wants them all to look uniform. Dialing in the rivet squeezer, same thing.

Brian Vickers, RV4 finishing.
 
rickmellor said:
When looking over some of my earlier rivet work I see a few that I would like to squeeze a bit more. Is there any concern with doing this?........
Click to expand...
No problem whatsoever. This is routinely done on a production line when an inspector isn't satisfied with the shop head.
 
When setting up the squeezer ...

If I have a number of rivets the same length, I'll adjust the squeezer as I go from one rivet to the next. When I get it set just right, I'll go back and squeeze the first ones a second time. That way I can usually limit it to 2 squeezes per rivet.
 
Rick,

When you get that squeezer adjusted right, turn it all the way in until the set is firm against the yoke, counting the turns. Write the # of turns on whatever you keep that size rivet in. Then next time you use those rivets, run the set all the way up, back off that number of turns & you'll be right on, first rivet.
 
adjuster creep.

One thing to watch for is the adjuster can change setting when squeezing a long set of rivets. I usually like to monitor a particular face on the adjuster to see if it's rotating at all. I've had to sometines go back through half the rivets and re-squeeze due to the adjuster creep.
 
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