Setting Rivets

[silverwingit]

billybop and all, I looked into that Goldstartool press, but ended up opting for the Tandy. The reason was that the Goldstartool press dies are metric. I have hundreds of Ohio Travel Bag snaps, which are SAE.

The vendor of one of these Chinese presses I was working with (many vendors sell the identical press) actually went to a local Tandy store, bought their SAE snaps and found that his press was incompatible with the SAE snaps. They distorted and didn't close correctly. I was duly impressed and thankful for this vendor's honesty and extra effort.

So, just know that if you do decide to go with a Goldstar or similar Chinese press, you must be prepared to purchase all your snaps from them henceforth. I was not willing to entertain the idea of scuttling my countless OHTB snaps or to restrict my future buying options to a Chinese company.

BTW, Arthur Porter has an excellent Youtube video comparing the two presses and confirming my findings regarding the incompatibility issue.

Michelle

Edited October 18, 2014 by silverwingit

[benlilly1]

Wow, great snippets of information to chew on...thanks everyone for the input!

[KristineS]

I'm fairly new to leather working but have a mentor that shares his knowledge with me. When I asked about setting rivets he said his method was he bought an arbor press. I found one at Harbor Freight, I didn't want to spend a lot in case it didn't work for me. It works great! This way I can make sure all my rivets stay straight as I lower the ram, instead of taking a chance and hitting it straight, which I can't seem to do! I do use the domed setter as well. I just finished a tote and used the press for the rivets and the bag feet. My friend examined my tote and said I did great job. Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

Edited November 9, 2014 by KristineS

[silverwingit]

I have an arbor press as well. I set it up for my hand hole punches and rivet and snap setters. It was a marked improvement over setting by hand but using it was so clumsy that I gave up and now use it mostly with my makers mark. My arbor press is bolted at the end of my workbench so I have to get up, move my work and parts to its location, use it and then return with my work to my normal seat to resume work on the piece. Just too much hassle with all the snaps and rivets I set. So I got pretty durned good at hand setting.

Still, I enjoyed the accuracy and confidence with using the arbor press so I bought the Tandy hand press. This is different because it doesn't have to be bolted down like an arbor press due to the geometry of its design. I can set it aside until its needed, then I slide it to my spot on the bench and bam! The only thing is that I do have to stand up to use the Tandy press. I'm not strong enough to do it sitting down.

Quite honestly, I have no trouble any more with setting snaps by hand. It's those pesky rivets that can still give me problems when I use a hand setter. Often the length of the post isn't quite right for a give work piece, the rivet is just a tad too short or a tad too long. It's so much hassle to drop everything and cut one short, and when you do they never seem to work quite right. That hand press rarely messes up a rivet even if it is way longer than the leather thickness might indicate. And with its added leverage I can set a snap with a post that is so short that I wouldn't attempt to set it by hand.

That's my own journey with snaps, rivets and presses. If I were to do it all again, I'd just bite the bullet and go straight for the hand press.

Michelle

Edited November 9, 2014 by silverwingit

[johnv474]

It is often overlooked but important to tell newbies (maybe no one here) that to set a rivet you want metal-to-metal contact. Don't try to set rivets on the kitchen table or backed by a piece of wood. Using a plain faced hammer (and another hammer laid on it's side if you don't have an anvil), you can set double-cap and quick-rivets consistently well with little practice. The steam should reach through all the leather and just barely poke our, around 1/16". If it sticks out much more then you will have bent/crooked rivets. Also if the hole is too big, they can bend to the side too easily. The hole should fit snugly or, at least, not be way larger than the stem.

It is often overlooked but important to tell newbies (maybe no one here) that to set a rivet you want metal-to-metal contact. Don't try to set rivets on the kitchen table or backed by a piece of wood. Using a plain faced hammer (and another hammer laid on it's side if you don't have an anvil), you can set double-cap and quick-rivets consistently well with little practice. The steam should reach through all the leather and just barely poke our, around 1/16". If it sticks out much more then you will have bent/crooked rivets. Also if the hole is too big, they can bend to the side too easily. The hole should fit snugly or, at least, not be way larger than the stem.

[benlilly1]

Thanks for all the help... Just what I needed to see RiverCity. Nice explanation and photos. Come to find out the rivets sent with the fob kit were too long for the thickness of leather.