Tubular Rivet Tips

[rawcustom]

After having some fun with tubular rivets (copper and nickel), I'm interested in anybody's tricks or tips for a consistent mushroom and set. Right now I trim the rivet to maybe 1/16" - 3/32" past the off side and keep the rivet hole on the small side to add support. I've been experimenting with driving the blow with a large hammer in a single blow, to using repetitive whacks from a small hammer. Still debating if one of these methods is any better than the other.

In short, is there anything else people are doing to keep these from bending when setting? I see rivet presses, are these the answer to a perfect rivet every time?

I get through them, it just seems I always get one or two that bends in the shank that I have to cut and pull out and redo.

Thanks

[Art]

In short, is there anything else people are doing to keep these from bending when setting? I see rivet presses, are these the answer to a perfect rivet every time?

I get through them, it just seems I always get one or two that bends in the shank that I have to cut and pull out and redo.

Thanks

We kind of use (and abuse) the Weaver Little Wonder for setting #104 tubular rivets. You don't even have to punch the hole, just set them. We also have a full set of tools from Brett at Brettunsvilliage (Blue tools) for setting stuff that is too deep in the piece for the press. The Little Wonder is a bit pricy, even at wholesale prices, but honestly, it pays for itself, and allows you to go decorative as hell with rivets. You can also put caps and/or (I don't know why you would use both) washers/burrs, just make sure you have about 1/8" stickup for the crimp.

We don't bend many of the #104s as I have a lot of different sizes and as long as we don't let more than the diameter of the rivet (less even works) stick up, they don't bend very often. That doesn't mean one doesn't get made wrong along the way, but that's what the Dremel (or Foredom) was designed for. The thing about the press is that it applies a more constant and even pressure, not just the wham, bam, thank you mam of the hammer.

The small sizes, aka #14, of burr rivets however, bend like spaghetti (al dente). You have to be extremely careful with them, so we try not to use them.

Art

[Wicked Welts]

I use the splash setter hand tool from Brettuns Village also and it works great. I'm still experimenting with tap-tap-tap vs a single heavy bash but the biggest help for me was using a block of steel as a base and using a heavy hammer. I'm using a split head hammer just like the ones they sell at Brettun's, it's a No. 3 but so it's so old the baso face inserts are roughly two points harder than the back of Superman's head so it's about the same as hitting with a steel drilling hammer. They don't recommend striking their tools with a steel hammer but like Tinker Tailor mentioned elsewhere, I treat it just like any other struck tool that might shroom at the top and need to be cleaned up every once in a while.

So far the only issue's I've had setting tube rivets with this tool are on me and I think you covered most of them already;

Rivet placed in an oversize hole - I now make the hole undersize so the rivet has to be forced through the material. Most problems solved right there. Another possible chance for bending is placing the rivet too close to a corner or edge. Nothing scientifical here, but me thinks if it's too close to the edge, there's a good chance for 'give' in the material when stetting the rivet and that could start the tube bending.

I've had issue with them being a hair too long and that's never good but I have yet to try cutting the rivets to a more precise length. I do not own a dremel and my only cut-off tool is way too big and aggressive for this so I'm not sure how I would go about trimming the rivet length without collapsing the tube or making it into such a project that it would defeat the convenience factor of using the rivets in the first place.

Any suggestions on that would be appreciated.

[Wicked Welts]

Art -

I've never used the #104 rivets but just looked at Brettun's and those look like normal double cap rapid rivets. Am I right in thinking these are much lighter or thinner wall than standard tube rivets? The only double caps rivets I've used came from a crafty type box store and seemed very frail compared to the tube rivets from Tandy so I'm curious if the ones at Brettun's are different.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Wicked Welts

[Art]

There are rivets all over the site, the ones I was referring to were tubular, or for really thick stuff, semi-tubular. Tubular rivets are what I call 104s.

Art

[rawcustom]

Thanks for the responses. That little wonder press isn't cheap, so I guess I'll have to weigh the cost against the annoyance of bending rivets. The biggest problem I think I have with a knife sheath is setting rivets towards the edge, and typically through 3 layers of 12 oz leather. I found eyelets respond best with a touch of oil and the tap-tap-tap-tap method. I guess I'll keep experimenting with the hammer strikes until I coin up for a press. I do set rivets on my anvil and that seems to help quite a lot. I'm also rolling around the idea of building a jig that would clamp the leather with a hole drilled out just big enough for the setter to fit through. Maybe if I compress the leather around the rivet it will have less wiggle room for bending.

As the temps start to nudge above freezing I'll probably be able to have some more shop time to experiment. If it works out slick, I'll post back with my results.

Thanks again,

Reid