Has anyone used the Chicago Pnuematic Rivet Guns?

I am gathering tools for my build. I found a CP 3x for $99 new. It looks just like the 2x from Avery. Does anyone have any experience with the quality on these things?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=97857

While we are on the subject, a local hardware store has Midwest Snips on sale for $10 each. Sears has the set for $28. Should I hold out and get Weiss snips?

Terry

I ordered snips from Avery and they sent the Midwest brand. I was a little disappointed as I saw them cheaper at the hardware store, but they have been working just fine.

I have no input on the HF rivet gun other than to make sure that you use a 20% off coupon for it. If you get on their mailing list they email you a coupon just about every week...or you can find an advertisement in many magazines such as Pop Science, Pop Mechanics, any car magazine, NRA mag, etc. that has the 20% off coupon.

Dunno

I would suspect the hammer is simply an air chisel with a few sets on it..If so this is entirely inappropriate for what you want.

Having said that some of HF tools work very well indeed..other stuff is junk

If I remember correctly HF has a 1 year warranty on air tools..you could always buy one and if it has no control (like its on or off) simply take it back.

Frank

There is Chicago Pneumatic (good stuff, in general) and Central Pneumatic (Harbor Freight brand, OK for some things, not for others). The Central Pneumatic name was chosen by HF to fool folks into thinking they were buying the good stuff.

Rivet guns come in 2 basic designs: Chicago Pneumatic and copies thereof and Ingersoll Rand and there may be some copies of it. Most clones are of the CP and parts of the clones are often interchangeable with the CP--Avery's are as are some from ACS. Both CHICAGO Pneumatic and IR are good guns.

At this point, I have not seen any info on the HF gun.

If it is the price that interests you, then I suggest you buy the real deal thru Ebay. There is an IR right now with 2 bids on it at $10.50 (it will probably go for somewhere north of $75), another with a "buy it now" price of $89.75 (looks like it has had a lot of use). There are some APT's, Jiffy's and others, mostly CP clones. Opportunities change daily. A good gun will drive millions of rivets before it dies; I would buy used before buying a Harbor Freight gun that has no reports on it.

I have both an IR AVC12 and a CP 3X. I prefer the IR; it hits a little harder and the trigger control is better, but it is a little longer than the CP and there was a place where I needed a shorter gun, so I used the CP. It's also a case of what you are used to and if I had started with the CP I might prefer it.

I bought a HF rivet gun as a backup a couple years ago. It was a worthless piece of (insert epithet here) which I took back and got my refund (at least they do refund your money). Not sure that all of their stuff is this way, but I for one am dubious about anything from HF that has moving parts. Hammers are fine, but I have not had the greatest of luck with HF stuff.

My experience, YMMV.

greg

Get a Good Gun

Sounds like Greg has first-hand experience that you might want to follow. I've bought some tools from Harbor Freight, and some are good tools--for what you pay for them. I bought my pneumatic drill there and it's lasted for the duration of my build. Of course, it's a lot louder and not as smooth as the Sioux drills that are in some of the builders' kits. My reasoning was that I could buy several $30 drills for the price of one of the high-end drills (but I've only needed the one).

But a rivet gun is a different animal. There's a "touch" to using them, and you want it to start and stop when you want it to with predictable results. I'd lean toward getting a quality gun from one of reputable suppliers (like Avery). A 2x or a 3x will work fine.

Thanks for the replies.

I have an Avery 2X already, I will keep shopping. I am glad someone pointed out Central instead of Chicago, I had not noticed that.

Terry

Since you already have a 2X, I suggest you watch for an IR AVC12. As I said, it hits a little harder than a CP style 3X, so you can have a slow, hard hitting gun with the IR and a faster, light hitting gun with the Avery. And once you get used to the IR, I suspect you will use that almost all the time.