Rivet gun

[Carmelo P.]

For driving 3/16 soft aluminium body rivets, would a 2x be better than a 3x pneumatic rivet gun ?
Thanks...

[David H.]

Re: Rivet gun

For driving 3/16 soft aluminium body rivets, would a 2x be better than a 3x pneumatic rivet gun ?
Thanks...

Carmelo

Given your question has been up a few days without response - i'm no expert, this is what I do:

I have a 3X gun and reduce air pressure for these soft rivets. Primary use of 2X and 3X guns is on those hard rivets. Dearth of information on soft rivets.

In particular, what do you intend to rivet? I ask this, as some of these soft rivets were set when NO body panels were in place. e.g. #4 body mounts. May be problematic getting helper with bucking bar or driver with rivet gun into position.

Spare tire tubs are just awkward to do by yourself, but access is easy. Those #4 cages not so much.

Alternative approach with just hammer and bar?

Sorry, not much help. Maybe one of the smart guys will respond now.

Dave

p.s. Below from internet how to do site. Most vendors just have long lengths, I just clip mine shorter with some snips.

The optimum length for a solid rivet will be equal to the thickness of the material to be joined, plus an exposed tail equal to the rivet diameter times 1.5. For example, a 1/8-inch rivet should have an exposed tail of 1.5 x . 125 inch

[Rod K.]

Re: Rivet gun

If I may offer, I used an El Cheapo (read "Harbor Freight" type) air hammer/chisel to set these on my C1. The tricky part was modifying the tip of one of the tapered tools which came with the kit to form a recess to match the configuration of the factory produced set rivets, but I had access to a machine shop and a friend who modified the tool for me. Use a regulator/shutoff valve on the air supply and set it pretty low, sneak up on the optimum pressure or you'll be way over what you need. For a bucking bar I had a length of heavy brass round stock into the end of which I ground a semi-spherical seat matching the contour of the rivet head. It did, of course, require a second person to operate the bucking bar where access was restricted. All in all it worked out quite well and produced factory-appearing riveted joints.

Oh, and I made a length gauge by cutting a rectangular notch in the edge of a small piece of sheet metal or other flat material to the depth of the aforementioned 1.5 X d, = 1.5 X 3/16 = 9/32. This allowed me to insert the rivet in place, measure with the gauge and grind (with a small air sander) to length to fit the gauge.

[Carmelo P.]

Re: Rivet gun

I will be attaching mostly 3/16 body rivets and grille brackets to the fenderwells.
I have the concave setting bits and a few bucking bars ready to go, was wondering which type gun was used by most members...2x, 3x, or regular impact gun
Thanks for help....

[Joseph W.]

Re: Rivet gun

Harbor Freight air chisel gun for less than 15 bucks.
Change out the tip to your modified tip. I used a concave tip purchased off EBay for $15 and slightly modified it.
Turn the air pressure down to about 20 cfm.
Worked perfect for me.

[Dorsey F.]

Re: Rivet gun

There is little difference in the HF zip gun and a nice rivet gun. But the one important difference is the trigger control. The zip gun is almost uncontrollable, even at low pressure. The rivet gun trigger should be smooth as butter so you can get one hit, two hits, or three very slowly. With the rivet gun, a 3x will do everything a lower gun will do plus rivets needing a harder hit than a 2x gun. I only have 1 gun, a 3x. It has done every rivet on my 64 during restoration. For the soft rivets, I only use about 20psi. At 110psi, the 3x will not do a great job on the steel ball joint rivets. I think they may need to be real hot to buck. Just my $0.02.