Carrier found in Norfolk yesterday 21/12/2010

[RichardT10829]

I discussed this with Kevin last year but the prep work was labour intensive i have made a jig to go into a lathe so can turn them out by the bucket load now. I failed miserably to form the heads on the rivets on the outside of the hull correctly (truss head) so decided it was a toss up between countersink and rivet frenzy or some machine work.

will get some pics tomorrow and post them up.

[eddy8men]

i was going to use coach bolts to put my radiator armour back on, they look identical to rivets, infact if you were picky you could bash the bolt head to give it the abused rivet look. the big advantage is of course nuts and bolts are easy and can be removed and refitted as many times as you like, there's also the cost to consider as 200 coach bolts will cost you about £50. the down side is you will be able to see the nuts on the inside but don't worry if you're at a show and someone starts to critisize your nuts just knock 'em out, put 'em in the drivers seat with a tin hat on and say it's part of your display

eddy

[RichardT10829]

please excuse my first crude attempt to see if the theory would work.... the idea is i will weld up the inside of my armour where the plates meet...the sections hidden by the angle bar.... then for the frame rails i will drill and plug weld the plates to the frame rails....the fake rivets with some locktite added will be wound on and should give the correct appearence. but majority of strength taken up by the welds... i have done a crude load test with the rivet under tension and i could hang a road wheel from it without it pulling.

i took a rivet out of the original armour and the closest coach bolt (18mm head) was the standard M6 i had tried the M8's but the head was slightly too big and the shank size did not leave enough material on the rivet to thread.

some will probably say LOTS OF WORK THAT ! and they would be correct but... using a pillar drill i drilled and tapped 3 rivets in 15 mins. on a lathe with a jig i can center the rivet easier and will be able to produce them much quicker.

for those who may not brave hot rivetting.....i tried and failed.... this may be an option

sorry if i have hijacked the thread Shaun...i suppose its kinda relevant to where you are with your build.

[kevin powles]

Richard, When i did mine it wasnt a big enough challange and wanted to punish myself further, you have used coach bolts there, try getting a 5/16" truss head rivet and putting a thread on it aswell like i did, then make 100 more of them aswell as drilling and tapping out the 3/8" round head rivet like you have then you will wish you could master the rivet gun.

Its o.k. and looks fine with a bit of bashing over at the end but boy what a boring job it was doing 100.

You will need therapy at the end of it, if i did it again i would gear myself up for riveting, its also the correct way of doing it.

kev.

[RichardT10829]

yup your right there kev I have the forge and snaps but getting the heads correct is an artform and a lost art at that one mistake and your drilling out rivets no second chances. You are right it is boring but i am spurred on at the moment to get my carrier finished before summer time.

[shaun]

They look great but i dont think its going to cost more than about £500 quid to get my rivets done. I did speak to an old mate not far from home who use to a lot for the local steam museum, he said i coul borrow his riveting kit but this guy Ben has found knows the process very well. i would rather spend half a day trailering my hull to him than 5 days going deaf. I will of course post the results on here once i have had the riveting done. Richie you need to pray for more snow so you can get stuck in the workshop behind the lathe ha ha ha

[tankbarrell]

I've done quite a few hot rivets from 3/8" up to 3/4" dia. and it's not hard. There is a fairly steep learning curve but I would not consider doing it any other way now.

[RichardT10829]

hop in yer car and mosey up north then buddy