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AlinNS

Well Known Member
So, I figure I'm getting pretty good at bucking rivets with the gun and bucking bar.

I use a Cleveland Tools pneumatic squeezer for dimpling and can definitely see the benefits. BUT, every time I try to use it for squeezing rivets, I am less than happy with the results. No matter what I try I end up with rivets that are not coaxial - not by much, but enough that it bugs me. Probably wouldn't even notice except that I squeezed lots of them into flat scrap and can see that many are clinched when looked at from the side. I can't bring myself to use it on the plane!

I can grab the gun and bucking bar and go to town. NO issues.

So am I the only one who prefers driving rivets with a gun?
 
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I'm with you. To me it's more efficient and easier than maneuvering my hand squeezer to every rivet. There were plenty of awkward spots where only one or the other would work, but I generally preferred, and got excellent results with the gun. There is more potential to do some damage with the gun, but once I learned the importance of properly securing my work, and how to hold the gun and bar securely, I had very few issues.

Chris
 
+1.
Control was the big issue for me, though I really didn't spend a lot of time practicing. I could 'tweak' a hand squeezer to get the results I wanted, but the air squeezer was hard to control. Bucking skill came quickly, & I always got equal or better results with the gun.

IIRC, my biggest issue was that the ram usually needed to be on the factory head, which meant that the squeezer was trying to move constantly as I started to close the gap & start the squeeze. It may have just been my squeezer, but I could never get the ram to move slowly up to the rivet; it always basically 'snapped' from full open to touching the rivet, even with minimal trigger movement. Add the monkey motion to release the safety, & it just wasn't worth the effort.

Charlie
 
Are you sure your C head isn't bent? I love my pnematic squeezer. Only time it's hard is if you cannot put the non-moving part on the factory head, then a lot of care is needed. I did find I can feather the trigger if I'm careful.
 
User preference

Resposes clearly reflect builder preference. Use what works for you.
I love my pneumatic but also my Sioux 3X.
 
I too have had better results with a rivet gun than with a squeezer. Especially with 1/8'' rivets. The only issue is not denting the skin:mad:
 
Coaxial Rivets

Thanks for the replies folks.

Specifically(squeezer), the issue that I have is the occasional coaxial rivet (center of head not over center of tail). When I practice on flat scrap with 470's, then usually 10% of rivets are off a bit. What concerns me is that you can't see this if structure is in the way - a flange for example. So you could move right along and not realize you have a bunch of coaxial rivets.

I've never noticed this when bucking.

Now I have been accused of being too fussy. The real issue here may be what I think is acceptable re coaxial rivets. I have seen references from must be coaxial to ok if no hole is showing.
 
I would have to go with the squeezer being my favorite tool. I'm not against gun and bar but I'm able to get better consistency with a squeezer.
 
I always grab the hand squeezer first. Far more controllable than the pneumatic or gun although I use all three tools depending on application. If your yoke or sets aren't defective, just make sure you keep the rivet centered and straight on the sets and hold the shop head against the material being joined. I'm almost complete with a slow build RV7a (sheet metal wise) so I have set LOTS of rivets.
 
I never had a pneumatic squeezer. Started on a low budget with an Avery gun, electric drill and basic tools finished my RV in three+ years. Later had a project with tons of great tools (sold) but never had time to work on it. I am with you on gun. Better feel and control but more labor :)
 
Surprised....

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised at the preference for shooting over squeezing as I'm of the school that attempts to always squeeze first and resorts to shooting only if required (granted there's a lot of shooting required). Don't get me wrong I can shoot/buck just fine, but for me it's a lot quicker and less risk of error to squeeze.

At the end of the day it's whatever works to get the job done.
 
I sure hope I can get that comfortable shooting and bucking. So far I have just used the squeezer and a little back riveting. I'm ready to put the skin on my VS and HS but need a lot more practice before the real thing. It seems like I either have the preasure to low and make too many hits or turn it up a little and my bucking bar starts dancing like crazy. I might have to find someone local for a quick lesson to make sure I'm not missing some tricks that make it easier.
 
If this was mentioned above, please forgive me.

If you're using a pneumatic or a hand squeezer with a "deep throat", i.e. anything deeper than 2" in my opinion, here's something to check:

Adjust the ram so that the squeezer can be closed completely and firmly on a couple of flat dies. Activate the squeezer, or squeeze it fully and watch very carefully for how much deflection your C-frame has. Also, look to see if the flats sets meet face to face with no crooked gaps or mismatch.

Some C-frames, particularly the deeper ones, have enough flex that it can be quite a challenge to set a decent rivet.

Sometimes those deep C-frames are really only good for dimpling, and useless for riveting.

YMMV!!! Keep building!
 
Hand squeeze and buck tail length is crucial. Pneumatic squeeze= psi control via regulator. 2 or 4 x guns =psi regulated too. And practice on scrap always first.. Still learning and going slow but steady.
 
vfrazier said:
If this was mentioned above, please forgive me.

If you're using a pneumatic or a hand squeezer with a "deep throat", i.e. anything deeper than 2" in my opinion, here's something to check:

Adjust the ram so that the squeezer can be closed completely and firmly on a couple of flat dies. Activate the squeezer, or squeeze it fully and watch very carefully for how much deflection your C-frame has. Also, look to see if the flats sets meet face to face with no crooked gaps or mismatch.

Some C-frames, particularly the deeper ones, have enough flex that it can be quite a challenge to set a decent rivet.

Sometimes those deep C-frames are really only good for dimpling, and useless for riveting.

YMMV!!! Keep building!
Click to expand...

Well how 'bout that! I only bothered with the deeper yoke and wasn't happy (riveting) no matter what so just always went for the gun. I just grabbed one of my other yokes... and, well, the pictures below speak for themselves...


Squeezed%20Test1_zpsjhv53r5y.jpg
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ABOVE PHOTO: Top three rivets are with the deep yoke, bottom four shallow yoke. On all of them, I sneak up real slow with the squeezer and center the tail before finishing the squeeze. Rivets are the correct length.

Squeezed%20Test2_zpskk9zswl1.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

ABOVE PHOTO: The yokes used.

I took the time to post these pictures with the hope that someone else will find them interesting/useful.

I've gotten very comfortable with bucking and like the control it gives me so will still probably grab that first when able.

Thanks to all who responded!!
 
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