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How the heck do you pull this rivet?

F

FlyingDiver

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Page 21iSU/-03. The CS4-4 in Figure 2, see attached. I have an electric puller, a pneumatic puller, and a hand puller. Only the hand puller has a chance, and once I get the nose over the rivet, I can't open the tool enough to get it to grab.
 

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Sport Aviation Article

The July 2022 issue of EAA Sport Aviation has an article, Pull Riveting in Hard-To-Reach Places. Might be helpful.
 
mturnerb said:
Section 5 tells you how to make a wedge to allow angled access to rivet. Section 5.4



I found this tool to work even better, and it doesn't get lost as easy as the wedges:

https://www.cleavelandtool.com/prod...vet-pulling-wedge?_pos=1&_sid=84382ac07&_ss=r
Click to expand...


I have that tool. Helps getting the nose of the riveter on the rivet shank, but no help with actually operating the tool.

I'm thinking that there's some other hand riveter out there with a ratcheting mechanism that works with minimal travel range. Maybe.
 
I took a cheap hand pop rivet tool and ground the nose off almost to the thread where the dies thread in. Works now in a lot of tight places.
 
Norman CYYJ said:
I took a cheap hand pop rivet tool and ground the nose off almost to the thread where the dies thread in. Works now in a lot of tight places.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can see that working.

As it was, I flipped the whole assembly upside down (instead of on it's side), and that gave me an angle with the tool that just barely worked. Even with the wedge it wasn't exactly flat but it's pretty close. I think I can live with it.
 
I have a couple of swivel head riveting tools. They allow you to get the handle in a position where you can squeeze it in hard to reach areas. I've also had to grind the nose down to get access. If the rivet is still too close to the side piece you can use a wedge of some sort. Here is one that is similar to what I have on ebay. There may be better options available but I found a deal on a pair of them on ebay at the time I was looking.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275230158529?epid=19025808081&hash=item4014feeec1:g:39IAAOSwJGpjFaFg&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4P9KSShzETIk2XRQ9CXcxN00A6vgBY%2BFu0XPO8i0iwCMFzawdOFvQQWFKVTePTtk8FgqfysjvsvcdrUaZV3YhRV%2BffmTYDykEyozuou%2BUh7cco29cmy70FKnJ0xClz6SjzbMEKdpLOE9FvDmXT26EvdbQJsvWxLkJYU16irgr7y4HUPP9WLQQnxUx7gmm3ffef5ddzTQHLo%2FUAObq%2BmwG5Ic9P5K1kezUnlUnOjT8ZeC%2BeA51iaq8bGFet1FHStgyhxUIYUpx6S1FjB7qnJWPlxPjtCwM2wUxnpimtAppuGv%7Ctkp%3ABFBM_K2m1OJg
 
rapid_ascent said:
I have a couple of swivel head riveting tools. They allow you to get the handle in a position where you can squeeze it in hard to reach areas. I've also had to grind the nose down to get access. If the rivet is still too close to the side piece you can use a wedge of some sort. Here is one that is similar to what I have on ebay. There may be better options available but I found a deal on a pair of them on ebay at the time I was looking.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that looks useful for some situations. Not the one I had today, but I can see using that other places.
 
Three options:

1) Buy a PRP-26A rivet puller, be prepared for sticker shock, but they are amazing. Ebay is your friend here....

2) Cherry Max Rivet puller, a little less $$$

3) Get the cheapest rivet puller you can find and grind the head down.
 
I'm not sure you guys understand the problem. It wasn't getting the nose on the rivet. It was having enough room between those two bulkheads to actually operate the levers to pull the rivet.
 
I used a cheap hand puller (Ace hardware) for all the rivets between those 2 bulkheads. I closed the handles to maneuver it onto the stem (With the wedge when appropriate). Then rotated the handles to allow then to open as much as possible. It still took 2 or three actuations of the puller to get the job done.
 
Ok, I see what you're saying now.

PRP26A will fit in there, but its an expensive solution for one rivet. If you were in DFW I'd loan you mine.

Silly question, but have you tried putting the rivet in the puller first, opened the puller all the way, give a gentle squeeze but stopping just before the rivet starts to distort, and then put the rivet in the hole? You may need to gently flex the bulkhead on the other side out of the way some.

EAA chapter near by? If you could borrow a rivet gun and bucking bar, that might work. You'd have to back rivet it and the F12107B might be in the way.
 
Supposedlly, I'm not allowed to substitute a different kind of rivet there, it's an E-LSA build. The PRP26A looks like it would work, but that's really pricey.

As I said above, I was finally able to get it done by turning the whole assenbly upside down so I could get a better angle at it. It took three partial pulls on the riveter I have to pull it, as I could only open it about 1/3 of the way.
 
Joe

I'll happily loan you my PRP riveter. I remember this and a couple of other rivets on the fuselage. I understand the problem I could get the riveter on it but not open the handles. I think I bought a cheap swivel riveter from Hf and did multiple small pulls until I got it in.

Robert
 
I bought all three different rivet pullers at Harbor Freight (for cheap) - gives you some options which were essential in pulling some of these weird spots...a different puller for every occasion (when you can't use the air puller). They work fine.

There's a swivel head, short handle, and a skinny head model...worth the 20-30 bucks for all three (or something like that).
 
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