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Pneumatic squeezers

M

Maxrate

Well Known Member
Patron
Im in the final stages of the tool gathering and about to start on the empenage. My question is how does the pneumatic squeezer stack up to the hand squeezer, and is it worth the extra money. Avery has a heck of a deal going on right now with free shipping.

Thanks for all the great responses.
 
Worth the $$

Yes, it will save you allot of time and the rivets are consistently perfect.
 
rvbuilder2002 said:
Here is a recent thread on the subject from about 1 week ago
Click to expand...

Scott, Hey thx for the link. In one of the reply's you mention the Adjustable set holder and rivet set rod. I found the adjustable set holder (Avery) but couldn't come up with the rivet set rod. Also which length yokes do you find to be the best.

Thx,
 
Maxrate said:
Scott, Hey thx for the link. In one of the reply's you mention the Adjustable set holder and rivet set rod. I found the adjustable set holder (Avery) but couldn't come up with the rivet set rod. Also which length yokes do you find to be the best.

Thx,
Click to expand...


I would highly recommend getting your squeezer from Avery. I've had mine for about two years now. I dropped it on the floor last week and it quit working. Bob Avery repaired the squeezer and had it shipped back in under a day. Bob straightened the brass tab, reamed the bore on the brass valve body, replaced the “o” ring in the brass valve body and checked it out. He did this at no charge. Considering this was also repaired as Bob was preparing to leave for Sun N Fun, I have nothing but compliments for their service]I also went through the standard learning curve a couple years ago. (i.e. how to squeeze -6 rivets) Bob spent some time on the phone giving some tips and tricks.

As far as yokes go, I have a 3", 4" no hole, and a longeron. I know there have been a couple threads debating on which ones work best. These have allowed me to squeeze about 99% of the squeezable rivets. I just use the rivet gun on the others. I've just been too cheap to buy like a 2" no hole to get those odd ball situations

If you get the squeezer and adjustable set from Avery, you'll have everything you'll need but the yolks and dies. I have the die set from Cleaveland Tools. I had an A&P tell me that he like the Cleaveland dies better than Avery's, however I can't substantiate that opinion. While Cleaveland's dies have worked well for me, I don't have any experience with the Avery dies

Both Avery and Cleaveland are great tool vendors and you'll get great support from both of them

Btw, I don't own a hand squeezer. I borrowed one while mine was being repair. The pneumatic squeezer makes your life significantly easier. I didn't realize how good I had it until I had to start squeezing rivets manually. (Thanks again Tom!) Getting all the yokes is expensive, but well worth it in my opinion

Also, it looks like Avery still has this all on sale at the moment. I would move quickly, since I would suspect they'll be posting Sun N Fun specials this week.

bob
 
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A tad off topic

I have the main squeeze from Cleveland and a pneumatic squeezer. I hardly ever use the pneumatic. I find it is too heavy, and time consuming to set up even with the adjustable set holder and quick change pins. I only use it if I have a long row of the same length rivets.

That being said I was having trouble with my pneumatic squeezer yesterday. While squeezing rivets, towards the end of the stroke it would suddenly tilt over to one side. This left the shop head with a terrible angle on it. At first I thought it was the yoke tilting off to the side since it seemed to have some slop in the squeezer. I took out the quick change pins and put the bolts back in and the problem didn't go away. I don't think it was the yoke since I switched it over to my main squeeze and finished the rivets with that. Any ideas?
 
My wife is learning to rivet by building Van's toolbox practice project. She did the dimpling with the Avery hand squeezer. Since then, I bought a used pneumatic squeezer for $350, and Avery's adjustable set holder for $55. We used it for the first time yesterday to rivet the hinges and front stiffener, and she says, "It's worth every penny!" I don't find setting up the pneumatic squeezer any harder or time-consuming than setting up the hand squeezer.
 
Consider foot control and bench clamp

My experience with the Avery pneumatic squeezer was okay, but not "great".

Until, that is, I sent for the foot control. With that attachment, I have smoother control over the pressure application to the cylinder. And freeing up a hand to hold things while I rivet?... Priceless.

Bench clamp is quite useful as well.
 
The pneumatic squizer is probably the single one tool I like most. I started with a hand squizer, and it is not even comparable.
 
My p. squeezer came with the tool set I bought from isham planetools.com. It is fabulous. I do not have a hand squeezer. You will need the 4" no hole and longeron yokes eventually.
 
Where to buy used squeezers

Used squeezers are usually available on Ebay. There are a few on there right now. Take your time, check them out, learn all you can before bidding. The CP214 is the one most folks use and other manufacturers copy. Note that Ebay rarely has one with a yoke that you want, so budget for your yokes and think about yoke cost when you bid.

Some folks use squeezers with the alligator yoke but most use the "C" type. The alligator style can usually be had cheaper. I believe the yoke question is a non-issue with the alligator style as I don't think they can be changed. Others probably know for sure.
 
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