Setting Raised Rivet On Conchos

[chevvy64]

Hey all, hoping someone can advise me before i rip all my hair out

I bought an assortment of conchos, all rivet on, and all are raised, by which I maean domed, pyramid, other differnt shapes; but basically all of them are raised with patterns, rhinestones, or embelishments on them.

I tried to set the first one on the hard metal surface that I usually use for the back side of the rivet that won't be visible; but I covered it with a piece of leather so as to protect the raised surface of the concho. It didnt work, and although the rivet section did actually set, most of the rest of the concho crumbled away from the back rivet post and broke. I tried a second straight on the metal plate and tried to set with just one swift tap, but that broke the front of the concho; so now I have no idea what to do.

I know industries will have dedicated setters, but surely I can't be the only person to want to set these manually?

Any advise on how to do this would be so appreciated, hopefully before I break every concho I bought

[chevvy64]

Hey again. Sorry to bump this up but I really need some advice as I have finished all the work and only need to attach the conchos. If anyone knows how to set all these raised types of styles manually, that would stop me breaking them all, I would be really grateful

[Spence]

Just so you don't go away mad ---

I've never used the raised/fancy rivets, but I do use a lot of rivets in my work.

In the process of searching for resources, I've seen rivet setters for these types of rivets. I can't nail down which suppliers have them, but a first look might be standardrivet.com . Google rivet setters and see what you get.

[chevvy64]

Heya Spence and thanks, already googled just about every term I could think of and not seen anything. Perhaps I missed something so I will try again, but surely there is a way of setting without? I went a bit mental and bought loads of differnt shaped ones so the chances of finding setters to fit all of them would be pretty tough; I wonder if sitting the face of them on some firm rubber would work?

If anyone has tried this or knows another way I really would appreciate it, I don't want to ruin every decorative concho I bought just working out a way to set them

[Bob Blea]

Not sure if this will help, but this talks about setting skull rivets:

I've used the decorative crystal rivets from Tandy before and those you set with the rivet face on a piece of rubber. They aren't a big as what you are doing though, I don't think.

Bob

[chevvy64]

Thanks Bob for the link, already seen that one but I appreciate you taking the time

The ones I want to set are considerably higher than those on the vid, which look pretty flatish really. Keeping fingers crossed someone may have some advice as like I said; I can't be the only person to ever want to do these. I did consider setting them on some sort of rubber but wasn't sure if doing that would make to much "bounce" and not be firm enough to set the rivet properly.

BTW how hard is that rubber mat thing you use for those decorative ones?

Thanks

[chevvy64]

Sorry to bump this up again guys, but I really would like to know how to set these before I go ahead and manage to break some more of them. They arn't cheap so I really can't afford to ruin them all whilst I experiment more than I already have done. There has to be a way to set these types of rivets manually, and someone else must have done some previousy?

Look forward to any advice

Many Thanks

[tnawrot2]

I would as the place/person that I bought the conchos from.