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Buyer's remorse?

rjcthree

rjcthree

Well Known Member
Ok, I just sprung for a pneumatic squeezer, new, from Avery, for a great price, yadda, yadda.

Somebody please confirm for me that like does get better with a Pneu sqeezer over a Tatco - just to make me feel better about parting with the $500 bones? Please?

As I am about finished finishishing the back garage/shop (wiring, insulation, drywall, heat), wing construction is about to begin (already drilled, deburred, dimpled, so to be alodined). The 90 (120?) day construction delay has bummed me out a bit - but the QB fuse is scheduled for Dec!

Rick 90432
 
Don't look back. I made the choice that I was only going to use a pneumatic squeezer on my project. I am in the final stages of finishing up my RV-7A and haven't regretted the choice. You will love it.

Steve Eberhart
RV-7A, spraying paint in a couple of weeks.
 
Don't think twice about it. That tool is worth every penny. Although I can't say I have ever regretted buying ANY tool :). I have even used my squeezer a number of times in general tasks around the house.
 
with great power comes a bit of risk

I bought a run-out 1940's CP squeezer for $125 on ebay and had it rebuilt... it is one of my favorite tools. I hardly ever use the hand squeezer. Remember that you need yokes - I have a 3" regular, a 4" no-hole, and a longeron yoke and I use them all regularly! Even with the bolts, a yoke change takes < 1 minute. I wouldn't want to be building without the squeezer. When I started using it, I thought it was too heavy, but now I'm used to it and can squeeze / dimple like a madman. It is great if you have a lot do to (like dimpling ribs or riveting gap fairings).

BUT - be very careful when using the squeezer "blind" (when you can't see the back side of it). I had the interface between the the yoke and the back edge of the die catch on an adjacent rivet head once. That powerful squeeze will pretty much crush / tear anything. Not pretty.
 
squeezers etc

Wait till you do your first line of 50 rivets and every one of them is perfect..
and it took all of eight minutes. Don't ever regret buying tools. When you're finished building, of the tools you want to sell, you'll recoop most of your purchase price.:)
 
GREAT DECISION!

By the end of the project you will know that you would have given twice that much for it or more....worth its weight in gold! And any money sent to Avery is good money spent to a great company and family!
 
This is always one of the toughest parts, I think about building an airplane. Weighing the benefits vs. the cost.

Clearly a pneumatic squeezer is a nice piece to have. Is it a mandatory piece? Probably not.

But in the end, you have to decide whether it's worth the money.

Personally, I've bulit most of my plane with a TATCO squeezer. I can see a few areas where a pneumatic squeezer would've been really nice to have, but there's a limit to the rivets reached by squeezers in general. Most of them will still be set with a bucking bar and gun.

I decided I'd save the money and go with hand squeezing.

Of course, initially, I tried to save $45 (at the time) by opting for hand sanding over buying a Scotchbrite wheel. That idea lasted all of two days into the project.:D

To amplify the dilemma you face, wait until you get to avionics, which is where I am now. I REALLY want a certain product. Really bad. But it's REALLY expensive. Even though there's no question the really expensive product -- whose name I'm not revealing -- can do just about everything but open a can of tuna fish and make me lunch, I'm trying to reconcile it with the fact it's really expensive.

So it doesn't get any easier as you go.
 
No Regrets!

Are you kidding? I've got TWO! I tend to use about three different yokes so I bought a second so I I could keep the second most used yoke "loaded and ready for action"!
 
now

you need a 90 deg air drill for the 1/4 threaded bits..just got a used one from brown tool and man i am kicking myself for not getting it sooner.:mad: what a dream it is.
 
Best money I have spent so far on my project. I would'nt even concider building without one now.
 
Only way to go

I started with a pneumatic squeezer. A few months in I went over to a friends house to help him, and he only had the hand squeezer.

Oh my god! People build entire planes with those things?

:eek:
 
I liked my used squeezer so much I brought a new one when my old one needed a rebuild. I now have two that I really like and may never part with... :)

And... Ditto on the 90 deg 1/4" drill info!!
-Ron
 
Ok, so I get the point . . .

Ok, I get the point. I'm sure all my concerns will evaporate with the first rivet. Between that and my tungsten bucking bar . . ..

And a crapload of practice rivets since I haven't driven one in 6 months!

Thanks guys.

Rick 90432
 
rjcthree said:
and my tungsten bucking bar . . ..
Click to expand...

...another tool (along with the pneumatic squeezer) that I absolutely could not be without. To be honest, my pneumatic squeezer sits on the shelf more now that I have a tungsten bar - bucking is so easy and the rivets come out great every time with the bar.
 
robertahegy said:
What's a hand squeezer??:D Sounds primitive!!!:D:D I think those guys with one eyebrow use those.:D

Roberta
Click to expand...

Nah, just those of us who are trying to build an airplane on a working-stiff's budget.:D

There are times, I admit, when I think, "man, if I didn't have kids, I'd have a lot more money for the airplane." But then I remember my kids are more important than my airplane and I get over it.;)

Like life itself, building an airplane is a series of compromises.
 
Two tools I don't regret are the pneumatic sequeezer and an DRDT-2 dimpler. I am a farily cheap guy, too, but for those tasks you will be doing hundreds or even many thousands of times, why make it THAT more difficult than it needs to be?

Note, too, that at the end of the project, you will be able to sell these two tools for probably 50 to 75% of what you paid. I know, with all the money you are devoting to the kit and the "needed" tools, you hate to also spring extra for these nice-to-have tools. You feel guilty that you are depriving the family of other things. But, the odds of getting a family member to help you out building are higher if you have tools that are easy to use. I doubt I could get my wife to use a C-frame very often, but she loves the DRDT-2 (and, no, I have no affiliation with these people!). She might also pick up a hand squeezer, but while it is heavy, she loves the use the pneumatic squeezer and as often asked me if I need to squeeze some rivets. So, had I not bought these "luxury" tools, I might be out working alone while she is inside getting upset that I am ignoring her. This way, she doesn't mind coming out to help me. Of course, you can't go off spending willy nilly on tools. There are a number of things I have not purchased that I would love to have, but I can't really justify the cost. I mean, if I have to spend $100 to buy a tool that will save me an hour or two of work by doing it some other way, I won't. I will do it the hard way and save the $100. But, as I said, if a few hundred dollars will save me a hundred hours of work - and make it more likely that family members will come out to help me - then I will have made a wise investment.

But, for sure, you will not have any regrets.
 
I've got some pretty severe arthritus in both of my thumbs that make them very weak. Every time I have to use the hand squeezer I cringe knowing the pain is about to start. Plus, I loaned it to a friend that had the Baa Humbug attitude toward anything beyond basic. Took me 2 months to get it back from him. It's the best money on tools I've spent.
 
Squeezers

I've built my airframe using Cleaveland Tool's "Main Squeeze" hand squeezer which has a gearing mechanism to provide mechanical advantage. It's no big effort to squeeze 1/8" rivets with it. I've seen a pneumatic squeezer in action and don't really see the big value-add.

I've also used the plain C-frame for dimpling skins. Again, buying a more expensive tool won't deliver significant improvements in time savings or quality IMHO.

Save your money for all the tools you'll either need or will provide significant time savings/quality improvements that they don't tell you to buy and aren't in the tool kits:

-Angle drill
- 1/8" pop-rivet dimple tool
- Electrical: crimper, wire stripper
- lots of #30 and #40 drill bits
-- Smart Tool (digital level)
-- Band saw, drill press
-- Dremel Tool
-- Washer insertion tool
-- Bolt insertion tool
-- Reamers
-- Tap set
-- lots of clamps
-- Snap-On screwdriver for #8 screws
-- oil filter cutter

Oh, and you'll also need money to buy all those nice to haves in no particular order:
- constant speed prop
-- Camloc fasteners for the cowl
-- Nice seats
-- Stainless steel heat valve & firewall fittings
-- Fuel injection
-- Horizontal sump
-- autopilot
-- IFR avionics
-- Nice Headsets
-- Fancy interior
-- AOA
-- Have someone paint your plane real nice
-- Etc., Etc.

And finally lots of money to pay for shipping & handling for all the little orders that you'll have to make over the life of the project.
 
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With the pneumatic squeezer, you give up the prospects of developing massive pectoral muscles during your project. I have been using the hand squeezer and my pects now match my fiddler-crab forearm from all of the clecoe work...

(In my best Arnold S accent....)
"Don't be a girlie man...get pumptatude!"
 
I'm a big advocate of Cleaveland's squeezer if you want to save $$. I don't have a pnuematic squeezer and haven't really missed having it. However, since I see you already purchased the pneumatic, I will say that you have an advantage in that you can hold the piece you are riveting with one hand while squeezing with the other. I can't do that with my hand squeezer. I must have the piece clampled down. To me, that's the only advantage of the pneumatic over the Main Squeeze. Now, if I had a Tatco or some other traditional hand squeezer, I'd throw it in the garbage and go get a pneumatic in a heartbeat. Have fun building.... and buying lots and lots of tools! $$$$$:eek:
 
Pneumatic squeezers rock

I own both. I never use the manual one. As I was dimpling and riveting the edges of panels in my slow build kit, I imagined that folks get quite a workout with the manual squeezers. I got pretty fast with that pneumatic one. If your remorse is acute, I'll sell you my manual one and buy your pheumatic one, so that I don't have to change yokes....:D

Art in Asheville
 
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