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2x or 3x rivet gun?

B

bobnoffs

Well Known Member
what would you recommend for a project that is vastly 1/8 rivets and maybe 5% 3/32 rivets, a 2x or 3x gun?

also, your 2 or 3 favorite shaped bucking bars?
can you tell i want to get into solid rivets?
 
Rivet gun

Rivet gun...Sioux 3X
Bucking bar...Titanium rectangular one with the angled face on one end.
 
I use a 4x for virtually everything. Longer stroke equals harder hits, equals less hits equals less hardening.
 
Tunsten

BruceEicher said:
Or better yet a tungsten but same shape. :p
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Dangnabbit! I do that all the time. I have a titanium rod in my tibia from knee to ankle from a broken leg so it must be on the brain.
Tungsten bar! Titanium leg. Gotta get that right.
 
BruceEicher said:
Or better yet a tungsten but same shape. :p
Click to expand...

Get the tungsten bars and a 2X and a 3X. While I built my -9 with a hand squeezer and a 3X gun a friend built his -7A with a 2X gun.

What I found was the 3X is great when riveting a lot of structure, say along the longerons or three or more skins together.

The 2X is great for skin to rib or skin to bulkheads AKA the places that will be seen. The 2X is light enough that it is very difficult to dent the skins with it.

Buy a hand squeezer from Avery's and a longeron and no-hole yoke and what you can's squeeze you can drive.
 
wirejock said:
Bucking bar...Titanium rectangular one with the angled face on one end.
Click to expand...

+1. Absolutely; a tungsten BB will become your favorite go-to bar, guaranteed. (see, Wirejock; I error corrected! At least a Ti and W bar would be about the same price :-o)
 
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Since you said the project you are considering is 95% 1/8 rivets, my recommendation would be for at least a 3X.
My preference is a 2X for 3/32 rivets put you will have so few it probably wouldn't matter.

The bucking bar that is my favorite is no longer available so I can't recommend anything, but for 1/8 rivets stick with bars on the heavier side.

Thinking about building a T18?
 
Plus one for the 4x. It seems to me to cause less skin distortion. You said mostly 1/8 inch. For me a 3x would be the minimum. Oh, and get one with a good feathering trigger.
 
2X No Problem

I used a 2X for the entire project and the plane is still holding together after 875 hours. I'm not saying its better than the 3X or 4X but it will do the job.
 
thanks to all that replied.
i picked up a used 3x gun from vans classifieds. not sure about a tungsten bar will use a few hand me downs for now.
i am reinforcing a few places as i am going to use a viking in my 12. solid rivets in a few places at the least make me feel better and i want to learn to buck rivets.
the viking is 35-40 lbs heavier than the 912.
 
I use a Cleco 2X gun exclusively for the "small" stuff. This is a high quality gun that can easily drive 1/8 rivets at 95psi, turn the pressure down to 45-50 psi and its perfect for 3/32 rivets.

Bottom line, I prefer a good 2X for RV type work, its also smaller and easier to work with than the larger guns.
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
Since you said the project you are considering is 95% 1/8 rivets, my recommendation would be for at least a 3X.
My preference is a 2X for 3/32 rivets put you will have so few it probably wouldn't matter.

The bucking bar that is my favorite is no longer available so I can't recommend anything, but for 1/8 rivets stick with bars on the heavier side.

Thinking about building a T18?
Click to expand...

Scott, Can you show us a picture of it?
 
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