bret

bret

Well Known Member
did you hand squeez before you bought a Pneumatic squeezer? just did the 116 on the HS rear spar by hand last night, good work out but........
 
I can squeeze 3s all day long. I did the -6A with a hand squeezer and did most of the 4s with a gun. That said, I'm really enjoying the pneumatic squeezer for the -10, though I've run into a few rivets that none of the jaws I have would reach, so I ended up shooting them anyway.
 
What's your time worth? Sure they are expensive, but IMHO they produce more consistent results at a much faster pace.

BTW... I started with a hand squeezer.
 
I used a pneumatic squeezer....

but....

Not all hand squeezers are made the same. Some are much easier to operate than others.
 
I intended to hand squeeze, but...

I ended up buying a used pneumatic squeezer from another forum member when I was at the same stage you are at now. Sure, the hand squeezer gets the job done, but a pneumatic squeezer will quickly become your favorite tool.

Besides using it on rivets, the pneumatic squeezer also makes dimpling ribs and stiffeners a very quick/simple process.
 
Everything I could reach...

I hand squeezed everything I could reach with a Cleveland Tool Main Squeeze, but that was a small percentage of the 15,000+ the rivets I've set. Since the majority of rivets have to be driven anyway, I didn't see the attraction of a pneumatic squeezer.

I did find that the DRDT dimpler is a really quick and easy tool for dimpling ribs, bulkheads, and stiffeners. Maybe that's why I didn't feel the need for a pneumatic squeezer.
 
- zero -

I've never used a hand squeezer - bought a used pneumatic from someone at work who'd abandoned his project, and never needed anything else.
 
Like Paul, I never had a hand squeezer. I was going to get the Main squeeze, but Avery gave me such a good deal on the pneumatic, it was a wash. Never needed the hand squeezer.

Roberta
 
I don't know...

how many rivets as I've completed my -9 and am now working on replacing the engine and I'm still using my Avery's squeezer.

I do know of one builder who never bought a squeezer, he shot every rivet.

PS. By the time I was done with my build, my handshake could crush a man's hand.
 
I just squeezed the rivets between my toes while twirling a beer cooler in one hand and cold one in the other...oh...errr....yeah...definitly pneumatic everywhere I could and the gun for the rest...

:D
 
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