6mm Rivet Question

[peter_m7uk]

As I have no power at my rented garage, I was going to embark

on the Herculean task of building my Lightweight chassis with a

hand-operated rivet gun. "What could go wrong?" I thought.

 

Most of the rivets used are 6mm wide and I now discover that finding

a hand riveter that does that size is like finding rocking horse s***e!

It appears that the riveter in the style of bolt cutters may do it, but

there are no small trigger-style riveters for 6mm rivets, for getting into

small spaces. Or are there?

 

Anyone have any ideas on this?

 

Ta,

 

Pete

[Guest TerryBarry]

Hi Pete,

I've got a Draper "Lazy tong" riveter but the largest size that takes is 4.8mm.

6mm rivets are going to need some force to close them -

Not a lot of help I'm afraid

 

There are a couple on HERE on page 3 & 4 that will handle up to 6.4mm - but cheap they are not

[peter_m7uk]

Thanks for the reply, Terry. There is a much cheaper one here:

 

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/V...-1/tools-1.html

 

that I spotted, but it appears that you have to pull the concertina shape right

out to pull the rivet. How long is yours fully extended? (Oo-er )

 

Cheers,

 

Pete

[Guest TerryBarry]

Fully extended 33 inches

Closed 12 inches

It's quite powerful - but it's amazing where it won't fit.

With some difficult positions I've used the smaller plier type but in some cases had to use a ratchet clamp to pull the handles together and close the rivet.

[Guest CaLviNx]

Hi

 

According to robinhood you are supposed to be able to use a 4.8mm riveter as in an air operated one they list from machine mart...

 

But if space is an aspect of getting a lrge riveter into try the one listed in the link below it swivels to allow you to get in to a tight space and doe large size rivets too.

 

Rivet Link

 

I hope this is of some use

 

Regards

 

Mark

[peter_m7uk]

Thanks for that, Mark. I've spent hours searching for a one-handed riveter for 6mm rivets and concluded that no such thing exists. :gdit:

 

The cheapest Long Arm Riveter I could find for

6mm rivets is over £50, so I was thinking of going for this Lazy Tong Riveter,

which is cheap, and seeing how I got on.

 

That link you sent me is £65, but it would solve a lot of the space problems, so I'm not too sure now .

 

I'm interested by what you say about RH's claim on the 4.8mm air riveter. The mandrel of the 6mm rivets is 3.4mm wide, so does that mean that 4.8mm rivets have a 3.4mm mandrel as well? Seems unlikely Can anyone confirm or deny that?

 

Pete

[Guest robin]

hi peter, the lazy tongs riveters i've used in the past were push to rivet rather than pull to rivet so you might want to chek with them which way around it works

[Guest CaLviNx]

Hi

 

Just been raking in the Garage and I eventually found some 4.8mm bodied rivets and according to my digital calipers

 

(wife bought em me last year I was measuring anything and everything on christmas day ohh err missuss) the mandrel on these rivets I have (stainless steel ones) are certainly close at 2.89mm O/D.

 

So possibly you could buy a power riveter linked to a petrol powered compressor.

 

Or pop down your local machine shop outlet with a 6mm bodied rivet in hand and see if it will physically fit in the hole of your chosen rivet gun.

[Les Welsher]

Here's the one I used to build my kit, a couple of quid from Hyper Value.

Used it on 4mm s/steel rivets but mostly on 3.2mm ones.

I assume the 6mm rivets on the lightweight are ali ones so it should be able to cope.

[Les Welsher]

The large fitting at the top has opening of 3.3mm, I have never needed to use this one so maybe for a larger rivet.

[Guest ScotMac]

WOW!!! The LightWeighters are coming out the woodwork!!! ;-)

[Guest CaLviNx]

WOW!!! The LightWeighters are coming out the woodwork!!! ;-)

HI

 

Dont you mean out of the aliminium ......

 

Regards

 

Mark

[Guest Andy Rathbone]

now we know what happens to all the empty beer cans good luck with your L/Weights

[Guest RichChat]

Have been working on a lightweight for a few weeks now. I bought an air riveter from Machine Mart for 50 quid and would not like to do the build without one. The manual ones I tried were all too hard to work with 6mm rivets and impossible one handed which is important if you are working on your own. Plus the manual ones would not get into all the nooks and crannies like an air riveter.

 

With all the lightweighters now emerging looks like an after marketplace of used air riveters and compressors is imminent.

 

If buying a lightweight then do not try to make the wooden jig just out of the chipboard provided it is not possible. I thought I was going mad trying to cut in in such a way as to arrive at all the pieces required. I even phoned RHood technical at heaven knows the price per minute but they could only comment that it was a "tight fit." WORK OUT THE WOOD REQUIRED BY SQ INCH AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

[Guest john]

I used a cordless one, about the same size as a cordless drill. They have them in the building trade for roofing and cladding. maybe a hire shop near you has something like it. goes for ever on one charge of the battery. and saved me a lot of manual work.