What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Pneumatic squeezer partial function?

R

rv8eh

Well Known Member
I have a pneumatic squeezer that, after a long layoff, managed to squeeze about 40 rivets, but stopped being a source of joy.

Now, the cylinder/set appears to make full travel, just not with a rivet between the sets. AN426AD-3 rivets, and rivets it would not squeeze were easily enough completed with the hand squeezer.

I searched the forum and found the supply air pressure issue - 90+ PSI at the squeezer.

Do I need to tear it down, or is there a common fix I haven't found yet?
 
Does air blow thru it like it is bypassing the piston inside?

If so, you may have to grease up the piston seal.

Do you oil it? If so, that is a no no... The oil washes off the grease.

Also clean all the mechanism especially the cam area and relube with some high pressure grease.

These things are very simple machines but you must maintain them or they won't develop full force.

Also, the set must be adjusted correctly. If you try to squeeze a rivet with too much travel, it won't develop full force. The squeezer only develops full force at the very end of its travel.
 
Howard,

Since you searched, you might have already ruled this out, but the squeezer develops its maximum force at a specific point in its stroke - near the very end. If you have things set to come up tight on the rivet before that point, it doesn't even have enough oomph to pinch your finger (please don't try it!), much less set the rivet. Make sure you are getting close to full stroke (using thick dies/sets can get you in to this trap).

Just one thought,

Paul
 
Brantel said:
Also, the set must be adjusted correctly. If you try to squeeze a rivet with too much travel, it won't develop full force. The squeezer only develops full force at the very end of its travel.
Click to expand...

edit: Just read Paul said the same thing...

This is exactly a problem I had, and as Brantel said, make sure you have your set adjusted correctly before doing anything drastic like taking it apart. Easy fix. :)
 
its not really that complex.

Taking apart and cleaning and reassembly fixes alot of things.
 
When mine did that, I took it apart and discovered that the nut retaining the piston to the rest of the guts had come loose. After a little loctite and some arm strain, everything was as before. As everyone else has said/written, they are really simple devices.
 
thanks, and interim results

Thank you for the suggestions, here is some amplification.

The set travels freely, no hangups.
I'd riveted a row with it already the day it quit, so I think that I had the stroke set ok. I actually had to dust off my MainSqueeze and use that.
The previous rivets had been shorter, and I was moving to slightly longer rivets.
I tried it with much longer rivets (-9), and no compression.
Subsequent squeeze with hand squeezer no problem on the same rivet.
--------------------
Blowby/leak?
I didn't notice any extra noise or air egress.

You know how partial press on the handle gets travel, but not full compression? It's like that. Closes the gap but doesn't apply full force.

The Plan: grease first, least effort, and might work. If that does not work, I get to see what's inside a squeezer.

Thanks to all. I'll report back what I find.
 
where do I go from here?

I cycled it a few more times today, and experience the following:

no successful squeeze

there is in fact a thin air leak at the bottom gasket, which got worse and burped grease with further cycles.

all but one of the allen bolts were loose, some quiteloose.
I tightened them all up, but my 10 y.o. helper admitted to oiling the squeezer just like I showed her with the drill.

That explains the broken down grease (or oil and grease) that burped out.

Do I still need to tear it down, or should it be adequate to clean/regrease the cam area?
 
Try just tightening everything up and cleaning and greasing the cam and bottom of the set holder.

If that does not work, tear it apart and clean up the old grease and re-grease the piston seal and put it all back together.

It is simple inside. Don't tear the gasket at the bottom.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top