Cleaveland Squeezer Issue

[dwollen89]

I have a Cleveland squeezer and a few different yokes. I use it a lot and it's worked great. While squeezing #4 rivets on the rear spar of my right wing, I noticed the rivets were not squeezing straight. I was having a hard time not clinching them and the shop heads were angled. I thought I just wasn't holding the squeezer square to the material. Ended up drilling out a bunch and redoing them.

Now I'm riveting the wing ribs to the rear spar and I'm having the same problems. I noticed that my yokes seem to have a lot of movement in them when I rock them back and forth. I'd estimate maybe an 1/8 inch or so. I think that's what's causing my issues, but I don't know what's changed. I took out the quick change pins and replaced the rubber O-rings, but that doesn't seem to have helped. I don't see any damage or obvious reason for the yokes rocking. I emailed Cleaveland to get some advice, but I haven't heard back yet.

Has anyone experienced this? Any ideas how to improve the movement in the yokes?

 

[thiggins]

I have a Cleveland squeezer and a few different yokes. I use it a lot and it's worked great. While squeezing #4 rivets on the rear spar of my right wing, I noticed the rivets were not squeezing straight. I was having a hard time not clinching them and the shop heads were angled. I thought I just wasn't holding the squeezer square to the material. Ended up drilling out a bunch and redoing them.

Now I'm riveting the wing ribs to the rear spar and I'm having the same problems. I noticed that my yokes seem to have a lot of movement in them when I rock them back and forth. I'd estimate maybe an 1/8 inch or so. I think that's what's causing my issues, but I don't know what's changed. I took out the quick change pins and replaced the rubber O-rings, but that doesn't seem to have helped. I don't see any damage or obvious reason for the yokes rocking. I emailed Cleaveland to get some advice, but I haven't heard back yet.

Has anyone experienced this? Any ideas how to improve the movement in the yokes?

I had the same thing happen in -4 solid rivets and just decided to use my trusty rivet gun, which I’ve gotten comfortable with doing 470 rivets. I think it’s the 3” yoke bending with the heavier rivets, but never sprung for a shorter and stiffer yoke. I’d think a pneumatic squeezer might do the same thing, since it’s likely the yoke bending.
Try a shorter yoke? Or, just use a rivet gun.

 

[fl-mike]

So you have slop in the pin/hole fit?
First need to determine where the slop is.
Check if the pins are tight in the yokes, and then check the squeezer frame. If both yokes and frame are the same, then you just need slightly larger diameter pins.
If it's the squeezer frame, then you need the famous hole-shrinker! (I'd contact Cleveland in that case)

 

[swift12]

This happens to me as well with a short yoke. It appears the longer the rivet the more likely. That is….a dash 7 rivet versus a dash 5 especially when the dash 7 is slightly long for the job. I found this on my rv7 front spar rivets. The angles are small when they happen and not holding the squeezer perfectly is only part of the problem. Drilling out and redoing them is probably not worth it in most instances especially after talking to vans about mine. Only a few have angled and there is a tolerance for it. It’s between min and max for the size rivet. That is .050 and .070 on a ad470

 

[dwollen89]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I got a response from Cleaveland and they said the O-rings probably deteriorated and they're mailing me some new ones. I replaced the O-rings already, however, maybe the ones I got from the hardware store aren't as thick as the ones Cleaveland sells. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully, this will fix the problem. Fingers crossed.

 

[dwollen89]

Update on this. I think I figured it out, but I want to pass the info along in case it helps someone in the future.

I spoke with Cleaveland tool about this issue on the phone last night. They recommended that I change the quick change pin O-rings, which I have since done. They also recommended that I scuff up the flat set so that it holds the rivet tails from sliding around. My flat set was very shiny and smooth, which I thought was a good thing...but apparently not. I took a piece of aggressive emory cloth and scuffed it up.

Most importantly, I was examining my squeezer closely and observed that it was not just the yoke moving, but the actual mounting within the squeezer handle. There is a lone hex head screw in the side of the handle that I tightened up. That seemed to improve the movement issues I was having.

I resumed squeezing rivets and it seems to be working much better. I hope this helps someone dealing with the same issues.