IT SHOULD!

At $120 plus shipping, it should hold itself in place!

I love toys, but not that one!
 
I riveted most all my #3 rivets with a steel bucking bar that had the same dimensions as the "ultimate bucking bar". It is definately my favorite for its size and because I could use any face, but $120? Tungsten alloy? Not for me.
 
bsacks05 said:
I riveted most all my #3 rivets with a steel bucking bar that had the same dimensions as the "ultimate bucking bar". It is definately my favorite for its size and because I could use any face, but $120? Tungsten alloy? Not for me.
Click to expand...
I aggree that the 120 bucks is steep for a bucking bar. A friend of mine had a simular tugnsten bar and I can say that it was the best bar I had ever bucked with. I have always wanted one, they are great. I just might buy one.

Gary
 
I have a tungsten bar that I bought from another builder - it is almost exactly that shape.
I love it. I have been able to easily buck all the tank and LE rivets solo, as well as the LE to spar rivets. I do not think it would be nearly as easy without that bar. I would be very reluctant to give it up - knowing what I know now, I would probably pay that much for it (I paid 100$ for 3 fragments of tungsten).

Thomas
 
For what it's worth, there is one similar to this on eBay right now that's currently got a bid price of $117.50.

Sounds like a cool tool but that's a lot of money for a chunk of metal, even if it is tungsten. I wonder how many lightbulb filaments I'd have to melt down to make my own? :)

mcb
 
mburch said:
Sounds like a cool tool but that's a lot of money for a chunk of metal, even if it is tungsten. I wonder how many lightbulb filaments I'd have to melt down to make my own? :)

mcb
Click to expand...
Even if you could get a 6200 degF oven.:eek:
Maybe you could just pack a bunch of them in a mold and pour molten nickel over them. Way easier melting temperature to obtain(2650 degF).
All joking aside, tungsten would be a nice dense bar to have.
Rhenium would be even better but also very expensive.
 
Industrial Metal Supply

Step 1: Go to Industrial Metal Supply
Step 2: Get a length of tungsten bar stock.
Step 3: Cut to length and shape.
Step 4: Round edges to make hand-friendly.
Step 5: Profit.

Maybe I'm oversimplifying it a bit, but that seems the logical way to do it. I would guess you could probably get hold of at least that much scrap for less than $120.

Dan C had something similar when he came out to help me close out my HS. Different shape, but same idea. Dense, heavy metal wedge with rounded edges and smooth surfaces.

Can you cut tungsten with a cheap Chinese plasma cutter?

I don't mean to bag on the product, it looks awesome, but the price is a killer.
 
Don't they use depleted uranium bucking bars in the sheet metal shops of the major airlines?? This is what I have been told. It is even denser than tungsten. I know it works good as a radioactive source shield and wepons projectile due to its denisity. - Ron
 
NOT!!

Not the right size or shape. They need to contact me and get the correct size and shape.
 
John Courte said:
Dan C had something similar when he came out to help me close out my HS. Different shape, but same idea. Dense, heavy metal wedge with rounded edges and smooth surfaces.
Click to expand...
That was just a standard bucking bar that I got as part of my Avery kit.

I think Jay may be implying that one surface needs to be "diagonally" oriented...if that's what he meant, I agree completely. A square/rectangular shape won't work 100% of the time.
 
rlo1 said:
Don't they use depleted uranium bucking bars in the sheet metal shops of the major airlines?? This is what I have been told. It is even denser than tungsten. I know it works good as a radioactive source shield and wepons projectile due to its denisity. - Ron
Click to expand...
Actually tungsten is slightly denser than uranium but both are very close. tungsten is ~19.6 specific gravity and DU is ~19.05.
-mike
 
I borrowed a tungsten bar for most of my plane from some ex airline folks. The one I borrowed was about 3/4 of an inch square on both ends, and about 1.75 inches long.

It worked like a charm, easy to position, weighed about 2.5 pounds, and was a little quieter than steel.

Of course if you drop it inside something, it makes a bigger ding....ask me how I know..
 
Jay,


What do you think is the best size and shape for a bucking bar? I'm about to rivet my rear top skin and a small bar like this seems to be a good shape. The extra weight for the small size would be a great help.
 
I like the group buy idea. Maybe we could have them engraved with a special sentiment for our wife or significant other, polish them nicely, and give them as a gift in a fancy jewelery box - "Honey, these are all the rage right now." Then sneak them out into the shop when we're riveting... ;)
 
Good luck with the group buy!

Here is a picture the Tg bars I have (next to a cast bar for comparison). They weigh almost the same but the small bars work so much better due to their concetrated weight. Well worth the extra $$$ IMHO.



I tried to buy some Tg so I could sell small bars after using these. The stuff is VERY costly and I doubt there is much price negotiation room.
 
I am in on a group buy if we go with:

JT109
JT109sm.jpg


or

JT117
JT117sm.jpg


.....on second thoughts the plain JT100 looks good too.
JT100.jpg


Thoughts????

-Ron
 
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price...

I gave Johnston a call. He says they list for $365 but can let them go at $300. They are "old stock".
 
$300 Yikes!

I found a tungsten supplier and can probably get some bar stock cut up much cheaper. It would be up to each of us to round our own corners, etc... I have no idea now "machineable" this stuff is, but I think it's about equivalent to mild steel.

If we can get a consensus on size, I'll see about getting a quote. I'd personally love a tungsten bucking bar, but I'm not paying $120, much less $300.
 
mdredmond said:
$300 Yikes!

I found a tungsten supplier and can probably get some bar stock cut up much cheaper. It would be up to each of us to round our own corners, etc... I have no idea now "machineable" this stuff is, but I think it's about equivalent to mild steel.

If we can get a consensus on size, I'll see about getting a quote. I'd personally love a tungsten bucking bar, but I'm not paying $120, much less $300.
Click to expand...

Matt... it sounds like it's not easy to machine/grind/polish, but should be doable at home...

http://www.rembar.com/Tungsten.htm

gil in Tucson
 
Tungsten Bucking Bars Coming!!!

Hi Guys,

I wasn't going to let the cat out of the bag until I had these in hand, but a little while ago I ordered several dozen custom tungsten bucking bars to be made for me. I don't have them yet, but expect them in a couple weeks. They'll be the best size we've learned to like from experience, 1"x1"x2" and should retail for just about half of what else is out there (around $160.00) or perhaps cheaper if there is a huge demand. These things aren't cheap, but they are a MUST have if you're bucking rivets. If you've ever used one you'll never live without it!

Anyway, I'll check my mfgr tomorrow and see how long it'll be before I have them to sell. They will be well worth the dough!

Sorry for the stump, but I'd hate to see you spend double what you need to get the job done.

Cheers,
Stein.
 
Tungsten Bucking Bar

Stein,
I'm interested in the Tungsten bar, but I'd like to have a "definite" price before I "definitely" commit. ;)
If you have a contact list, put me on it.
Don
 
Funny - poking around for months on my own, I was unable to find a source for tungsten bucking bars.Then up pops this thread with lots of good info!
I did find places that would get me something similar in size to the Ultimate for between $340 and $760. Too Much! So I called Dean yesterday AM. Sounds like a real nice guy - working stiff, built an -8(A?) almost entirely with this bar and a back rivet plate, and trying to break into the aircraft tools circle with this roll-out product.
I'm willing to take a chance - I've already sent my check...
 
Price of Tungsten Bar?

SteinAir said:
...should retail for just about half of what else is out there (around $160.00)...
Click to expand...

Stein,
I have one very important question. Are you saying you hope to retail the Tungsten bars for $160 or $80? Your wording in your post is not clear to me. I note the size you mentioned is 1"x1"x2" which is smaller than the bar shown on the link in the original post in this thread and thus would be consistent with the lower price. (I just checked and Dean's is 2.5 cubic inches versus 2.0 cubic inches as described by you.)
Need more info. :confused:
Thanks,
Don
 
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No, I'm hoping that if I get enough of these (price gets lower with qty) I can get the price down well below $160.00. The two dozen I have on order will be priced around there, but if I get the qty's up then the pricing drops significantly if I get these done in batches of say 50-100 insteat of 1 or 2 dozen. I was referring to the $300+ bars, not the $120 bar mentioned previously (the one that is long and skinny....). The 2.5 cubic inch bar may be .5 cubic inches larger, but it's only 5/8" wide, and 4" long......not optimal from our experience. Certainly still FAR superior to steel / iron bars, but the little bulkier cubes come out much handier overall.

Personally, I have one of the 4" x 5/8" bars and find that we've probably only used it two or three times over the span of many RV's. The little cube that I'm having made is for a reason, it's the one we found from our airline days and RV building days as having the widest use/application. You can sneak that little thing almost anywhere, and since it's so darned dense it'll do most rivets. After doing lot's of rivets on everything from RV's to 747's, between everyone in my shop we have almost every imaginable size/shape/material (including depleted uranium ones) of bucking bar and I can tell you we use our tungsten "mini bars" 99% of the time.

Anyway, I'll keep everyone posted as to the progress on these things....like i said, I know they aren't cheap, but you'll likely quit using almost every other bucking bar after you use one of these!

Cheers,
Stein.
 
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I'm curious...does anyone know: are these pure tungsten, tungsten alloyed with a lesser amount of something else, or something else alloyed with a lesser amount of tungsten?
 
It took me about 7 months before I found some tungsten bars that I could justify the cost. I bought a batch of them and kept these four and sold the rest to other builders. I use them all from time to time but the best on is the one with the red line around it. It is the do everything bar. It is not very big but works about anywhere. The long one is the second most used. Once you get used to a tungsten bar you will not want to go back to the cast bars, or at least I would not want to.

mybars.jpg
 
Paul Eastham said:
I'm curious...does anyone know: are these pure tungsten, tungsten alloyed with a lesser amount of something else, or something else alloyed with a lesser amount of tungsten?
Click to expand...

All "tungsten" bucking bars are alloyed. Pure tungsten is a powder, and sintered (or other similar process) to be made into filaments, rods, shapes, blocks, etc...

The stuff we need for bucking bars, couterweights, etc... is alloyed with tiny amounts of things to make it usable and workable. It's still nearly 200% denser than steel and even more than that when it comes to the cast bucking bars.

Cheers,
Stein.

P.S., I really wish I had the massive amounts of metal from old 747 control surface counterweights I used to work with....those things were great for making bucking bars (both tungsten and the depleted uranium)!
 
Let me see it!

Stein - when you have a sample of the one you'd sell, please post a pic with some indication of size/scale. I'm not strongly convinced, but I'm heading in that direction and maintain a healthy watch! Cheers,
 
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