Not getting straight rivet tails with hand squeezer

[DaleB]

I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or if it's a tool issue. I usually tend to take the blame for mistakes, but I really have not been able to figure out what I'm doing wrong here.

Early in my build I bought a stainless hand squeezer, which I believe is P/N 65005 from the Yard Store. More and more I have noticed that I very seldom get a good, flat shop head on flush rivets. They always seem to have a little bit of "tilt" to them, no matter how carefully I make sure the dies are centered on the rivet and that I keep everything aligned while squeezing. I think the rivets are OK structurally; the shop head isn't off center or malformed, other than the end being at a slight angle rather than parallel to the sheet. If I do a row of rivets, they'll all be pretty consistent -- about the same angle and all the same direction. Like I said, I think they are fine structurally but it's embarrassing to see the shop heads looking crooked. Is this common? Is it me or the tool?

[Joness0154]

Could the yoke be flexing?

I made up my mind from the beginning about going with the Main Squeeze by Cleaveland. I've heard nothing but good things about it and the Geezer Squeezer.

[Mike S]

Try reversing how you squeeze the rivets---------if you have been putting the fixed anvil on the shop head, try putting it on the factory head instead.

I find that I do a much better job with the fixed anvil on the factory head.

Also, whichever way you are doing it, put a little pressure on the factory head first, to keep the rivet in place before you squeeze it.

[N804RV]

I have trouble setting the AD4s with my little Avery hand squeezer. It just doesn't have enough heft to it to stay straight on the tails. I can sneak up on the rivet and make sure I'm pulling straight. But, as soon as I give that final squeeze the torque on the handle invariably pulls the yoke slightly out of line, resulting in a less than perfectly formed shop head.

I bought a used Chicago Pneumatic squeezer. With a little practice, it works great. If I ever need to sell tools, those things tend to hold their value pretty well. Or, so I've been told anyway.

[bret]

I second the Cleavland squeezer! built the entire airframe with it.

[BillL]

The dies have a slight crown to them and I have the same thing happen with my Avery. I do notice that the degree is more pronounced with the 4" no hole yoke, so typically use the three inch with both dies in place.

It could be combination of dies, yoke flex, and operator. This assumes that everything starts out square. You might try to set a lone rivet on top of a die and squeeze it to help track down the issue. It may be necessary to put it in the vise to accomplish this task. Rotate the dies etc to follow the trail.

Good luck, it seems the pursuit of quality invariably leads to knowledge. At least, I am finding that to be true.

After a tough engineering project that was well outside of the normal product design limits, we were late on the aggressive development schedule and after telling the VP why, and what we learned, he said D***it, I didn't want you to learn anything just test it and put it in production!! He had a finance degree.

[Toobuilder]

If you run two flat dies together and squeeze, you can see the amount of yoke deflection. It's often pretty significant. One habit I learned (right or wrong) from long time production sheet metal guys is to give the squeeze a swing at the final set. The rotation of the set 90 or 180 degrees (or whatever you can get) will flatten out the tail and "hide" the fact that the yoke is distorting.

[DaleB]

Originally Posted by BillL

He had a finance degree.

Guys like that can and often do kill entire companies if they rise high enough.

Originally Posted by Toobuilder

If you run two flat dies together and squeeze, you can see the amount of yoke deflection. It's often pretty significant. One habit I learned (right or wrong) from long time production sheet metal guys is to give the squeeze a swing at the final set. The rotation of the set 90 or 180 degrees (or whatever you can get) will flatten out the tail and "hide" the fact that the yoke is distorting.

I'm going to do some experimenting this evening on some scrap to see if I can isolate the cause. I'm seeing this with 3/32 rivets, not a lot of force required... but maybe it's the combination I'm using. Maybe it's just my technique.

I tend to use one of the taller flat sets on the outer end to reach around hinges and stuff; maybe I need to focus more on using the thinnest possible set that will get the job done without interference.

[rzbill]

The OPs link was to a TATCO or a copy of a TATCO. Setting AD3s should be a non-issue with any of the provided jaws and in any orientation as long as the jaws are aligned to the rivet. Can be done one handed.

AD4s are a different matter. Any jaws other than the pictured 1.5" throat will flex too much to make a flat shop head. If that jaw did not fit, I would use the gun and bar.

****Just saw the recent post above******
Loose and tall sets will do that. I have a 3/4" tall one that I made for a longeron yoke. It's 3/16 stem is loose. I have to be very careful with that one to not cause a crooked rivet.

Use the ram travel as a "poor mans" longeron yoke, instead of long sets. Sometimes I even adjusted the ram AFTER getting around the offending flange.

+1 for Toolbuilders tip about repositioning the squeezer when necessary.

[Finley Atherton]

Rather than squeezing with the rivet positioned at the centre of the dies try positioning the rivet at the inner edge of the dies ( in relation to the yoke ).

Fin
9A