Hi Mel,
What I did for the rivets was to make two tools. One that fit into my air
hammer pneumatic tool. I basically cut the shaft of one of the chisel tools
that I had an extra of. So basically it consists of the part that fits into
the hammer and then a blunt end on the opposite end. Then I took that shaft
and used my drill press and some dremel grinding tools to basically hollow
out the end and give it the concavity needed to fit over the rivet. I then
took a dolly. One that I wasn't very fond of and I used a drill bit to
create a cavity, several cavities actually, with different depts. This dolly
was to be used on the end of the rivet that gets flattened. Basically its
nice to have something with a little mass on the other end of the rivet when
it comes time to flatten it.
Once you have the two tools then its time to do a little experimenting. try
different pressure settings, I think 40psi worked well for me. You will need
someone else on the opposite side of the rivet pushing very hard with the
dolly while you use the air chisel/hammer and the shaft tool to set the
rivet. A lot of practice will help on sheets of metal with holes drilled
through.
I worked with my wife on this part of the restoration and we're still
married. And nobody got hurt. A few rivets got fungooed but we fixed them.
Practice. Practice, practice.
Rick Neves,
Millis, MA
'56 BN-2
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