rivet forming tools ?

cantankrs · #1 05-01-10, 15:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

We had no problem drilling out the Ram tank hull rivets.

Hi Adrian,

Were they 3/4" rivets? Presume you used a mag base drill. Did you remove the head from one side first? And did you use drills or annular cutters (Rotobroach)? Just wondering cos with my Grant hull out in the bush I used Oxy to slice off a head and we pushed some out with a pneumatic Rivet Buster when cooled when we had two people (and enough PSI). But then for the rest I needed to get out I cut the other head off too and used a packet of 3/16" drills and an air drill coupled to a modified drill press with some suds to drill the centres and then Oxy'd a "Y" so they'd collapse and then pushed the remains out with a hammer and punch while still hot. Tiny bit of damage to the plate or angle where I wasn't precise with the oxy. Interestingly 3/16" was the minimum drill size that would allow clear oxy penetration through the length of the rivet.

Regards

Alex

tankbarrell · #2 05-01-10, 19:14

Alex,

you pretty much summed it up! Other than using small drills that is. We used a magbroach but using a drillbit of about 5/8".

Cut off one head, grind flat, drill through to about the thickness of plate and then punch out. The punch running inside the rivet with its end against the remaining head.

We had a few that punched out ok without drilling and some that required cutting in a similar way to your description.

All good fun!

cantankrs · #3 05-01-10, 23:47

Cheers Adrian!

Regards

Alex

Lynn Eades · #4 06-01-10, 09:06

It wont be available to everyone, but I used an arc/air gouger to remove the stainless welds from my hull. It would work well for removing rivets too.
As far as tooling goes, I have made up a die for a pneumatic rivet gun. I turned it up on a lathe, out of 4140 (or maybe 4340) the advantage of which, it work hardens with use.