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NewGuy

Member
Does any one have a pneumatic rivet squeezer that they would consider loaning or renting or selling to me?

I am knee deep into my empennage and my arms hurt already just from the dimpling process- I can imagine what it will be like trying to hand squeeze all those rivets on the rear spar and around the periphery.

I'll take really good care of a loaner and have it back promptly at the agreed to return date...

Ken Korenek
Arlington, Texas
 
I am just getting started riveting on my 9A. I got both the DRDT-2 and a pneumatic squeezer from Plane Tools. The dimpler is great. The wife loves to dimple with it as it is so easy. I doubt she would touch a C-Frame. That alone makes it work its higher price!

As for the pneumatic squeezer, it is heavy and a bit awkward to handle, at least for me! I am sure it is easier than manual squeezing, but you will still be sore. Bucking is an option if you want to save your muscles, and it goes really fast. Maybe it is because I am still learning to use the pneumatic squeezer, but I chose to buck most of the outer rivets on the VS. I think it is the fastest way, though the quality of the shop heads won't be quite as consistent.

Jeff
A new guy too, so I may be way off
 
Squeezer?!? WHAT Squeezer!

May as well learn to use your rivet gun and bucking bars. No squeezer required :)
 
To save a few dollars, you could get a used one from the yard store, I did and love it !
I should have my DRDT2 here soon also, no more BANG,BANG,BANG on the C-frame for me !
You will find that you can always make room for one more tool.

:D
 
Go buy a pneumatic rivet squeezer. At the end of the project you can sell it at a loss of only a couple of hundred dollars. It'll take 48 hours to sell it cause it's the most desirable second hand tool of all. They go like hotcakes.

For a couple of hundred bucks over the course of building an RV it's the best tool investment you can make.

The reason they command good dollars on resale is because there aren't that many for sale secondhand. Why. Because even when people finish building they still don't want to part with them.
 
Jeff R said:
...As for the pneumatic squeezer, it is heavy and a bit awkward to handle, at least for me! I am sure it is easier than manual squeezing, but you will still be sore....
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I was told this hint by repeat offender Mike "Kahuna" Stewart. Turn the squeezer upside down and clamp the yoke into your bench vice. It works great for dimpling and setting rivets.

All-in-all, I have found the most consistent riveting method is using the c-frame tool. I use(d) it whenever possible for AN470AD4 rivets. I have the Cleavland tools c-frame which has a provision for putting rivet gun sets in it. Using the c-frame allows you to get the rivet being driven perfectly aligned with the shaft. Sometimes with a squeezer it is a little more difficult to tell when you're straight and it's easy to bend rivets over if they're a little too long.
 
Monster squeezer!

Speaking of pneumatic squeezers... I walked into a local pawn shop to sniff around the other day. I checked the usual pile of air tools on the off chance there might be something useful there. I found the usual cheapie drills and other used up junk. Then I spoted something... wait thats to darn big to be a... YUP! it is! I found a tandem pneumatic squeezer that had.. get this a SIX INCH yoke on it! What a hunk of iron that thing was.. seemed like it weight 20 pounds! It looked like it was BRAND new! (I think someone might have swipped it from work or something) I was planning on going back by there to see if I can work the guy down on price a bit. I have no use for it since I already have a squeezer. but man that 6" yoke looks like it will reach almost anything! If anyone is interested in it let me know and I'll see if I can get it for $350 or less.
 
I am a tool guy to begin with but even if I was not I could not dream of building an RV without a good air squeezer. I bought mine on ebay. Just watch a while till you see what you want. It is worth it's weight in gold as far as setting rivets with consistancy. Just my .02 worth.
 
I agree - I love mine. I'm just trying to figure out a consistent way to set it up with the adjustable set holder.
 
DaX said:
I agree - I love mine. I'm just trying to figure out a consistent way to set it up with the adjustable set holder.
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Indeed. I have an adjustable set -- if I could only figure out how to use it. These things come with no instructions!

I am finally getting good at using my pneumatic squeezer for riveting and dimpling (with using the adjustable set). I was confounded a bit at first as it seemed I couldn't get a rivet to squeeze, or some would squeeze and then I couldn't anything to squeeze, but there is a bit of an art to it. What seems to work for me is, first, I install the dies I will be using. Then, I attach the air hose and I squeeze the trigger to bring out the piston/plunger to its full depth. I then rotate the piston part in and out to adjust it to the depth I want. A little too far either way and it won't squeeze anything. But, when you get it just right, it will flatten out that rivet as nice as can be. After a little fine-tuning to work up on the degree of flatness you want, then you can go to town riveting. Last night, I was impressing myself with the consistency of my riveting and, all of a sudden, nothing. The rivet was hardly compressed at all. Well, duh, I discovered I had a slightly longer rivet. I put the right size in, and I was back at it. So, yeah, even a tiny change can cause your squeezer to appear to be anemic and unable to crush an ant. But, with the air pressure set right (I use about 80 pounds) and once you hone in on the depth, this thing rivets really nice and fast! If you do change rivets, you have to readjust the depth, of course.

I have two complaints with the squeezer. One is that for my dimpling set, I have to screw the piston way, way done, beyond that with the wrench will work, in order to have the depth to insert the dies. I have to use pliers, which scratches it. The shorter riveting dies present this problem.

My other complaint is, well, this thing is heavy! I work in the office all day and the heaviest thing I pick up is my 44 ounce cup of cola/diet cola mix I get from the local Circle K (I can't stand coffee). After a few dozen rivets or dimples with this thing, the old arm starts to tire. However, the wife noted the other night I actually have a muscle in my right arm! Between the DRDT-2 and the pneumatic squeezer, I am actually getting some arm muscles. Yeah, I am the man! Seriously, though, building an airplane is a good way to get some exercise. The standing, bending, lifting, holding, etc. certainly builds up muscles throughout the body. I am often exhausted after a few hours in the shop, but I can?t wait to go back the next day.

But, still, I have no idea how to use the adjustable set. I am sure I will feel like an idiot when I learn how. Well, I already feel like an idiot with some of the mistakes I have made! As long as I am smart enough to realize I made a mistake, I guess I will be ok, though. Or am I just being an idiot to feel that way? :)
 
One trick I discovered with my adjustable set was that once I had it set for a particular length rivet, a full turn of the set gave me a half "dash number" (length) in rivet length. If I was squeezing -4 rivets, and needed to go to -4.5's for instance, I opened the set a full turn.

At least, I think that was my formula....it's been a while now since I was building every day....
 
Ironflight said:
One trick I discovered with my adjustable set was that once I had it set for a particular length rivet, a full turn of the set gave me a half "dash number" (length) in rivet length. If I was squeezing -4 rivets, and needed to go to -4.5's for instance, I opened the set a full turn.

At least, I think that was my formula....it's been a while now since I was building every day....
Click to expand...
A good formula, and mathematically correct. Adjustable sets have 32 threads per inch, while rivets are in sixteenths of an inch. So, half a rivet size change is 1/32, or 1 turn- a full rivet size is two turns.
 
Get the pneumatic squeezer. Hands down a good buy if you're going to build the whole plane.

Not to mention the wife likes to squeeze, but isn't a great fan of bucking.

---
RV7a (Wings)
 
MAINSQUEEZE

It's funny I never hear anyone mention the Mainsqueeze brand of manual squeezers.Wally at Synergyair set us straight imediately upon getting to Eugene that we would be using the Mainsqueeze almost exclusively at his shop.Sure enough, he had plenty of pneumatics laying around that he never used anymore because the Mainsqeeze was so much faster and easier.I could lay 30 or 40 rivets down a row and have them set in less than five minutes no sweat and would not feel at all fatigued or tired.They were all consistant and looked perfect.We also learned to benchvise it at the right angle and we would end up with a dimpler that was equally as good as the fancy lever-action c-frame dimpler nearby(allthough not as deep a reach).Knowing how easy this process was with the Mainsqueeze we made sure it was on our Cleavland list.I cant imagine it being any easier except for some sort of self setting rivets.Do those come with the pneumatic? BTW...we comparason riveted with the old style hand/manual squeezer and the Mainsqueeze...those old ones are waaaay to much effort.The Mainsqueeze uses some kind of compound bow physics to make it so effortless,the old ones just hurt me.
 
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Jeff R said:
Indeed. I have an adjustable set -- if I could only figure out how to use it. These things come with no instructions!

Give Bob a call at Avery Tools, he has a manual he wrote for the proper operation and set up for this tool.

Steve
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