Flush rivets

Forum rules
The PantherCave is for Panther builders, potential builders and enthusiasts. Two simple rules: Be Nice and Use a Real Name.
stevegawler
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:07 am
First Name: Steve
Last Name: Gawler
City or Town: Ocala
State or Province: Fl

Re: Flush rivets

Post by stevegawler »

Well I drilled a lot of holes in some scrap today. DIENQ dies made great dimples with the rivets being flush. The close quarters die made acceptable dimples using the copper nail that might need a little touch up with sandpaper. The 1/8", 120 degree dies made unacceptable dimples which, like my tail kit, were still not flush.

Upon closer examination of the dies, the DIENQ had a much larger "volcano" on the male die than the 1/8" die and the female DIENQ die had a slightly larger diameter hole for the rivet head than the 1/8" die. I believe these Cleveland 1/8" dies are made incorrectly and I called Annette today to discuss it.

Question: is there a difference between the close quarter dies from the various tool suppliers? The Cleveland version could be a little better.

stevegawler
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:07 am
First Name: Steve
Last Name: Gawler
City or Town: Ocala
State or Province: Fl

Re: Flush rivets

Post by stevegawler »

Using the max pressure possible. I tried my 100 degree dies on scrap yesterday and while not pretty, the rivet set deeper. It does seem like using more downward pressure results in a tighter fit but on the rudder stiffeners this is not possible. Those are some of the bad ones.

User avatar
mayo3808
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:30 am
First Name: Brent
Last Name: Mayo
City or Town: Fernandina
State or Province: FL

Re: Flush rivets

Post by mayo3808 »

Steve
Your 120 dimple die from Cleveland should work. First check to be sure it not for 100 degree rivets. Could have got packaged wrong? I've used both pulled rivet dimple dies from Cleveland and recommend the DIENQ dies. You start off with 3/32 or #40 hole then dimple using DIENQ. They dimple 120 but leave a slightly smaller hole about a #31 drill size for a tighter fit. Cleveland makes very high quality tools from my experience.
Brent Mayo
SN#053 Flying
Corvair 3.0
Fernandina, FL

Ryanfscs
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2015 10:53 pm
First Name: Ryan
Last Name: Fiscus
City or Town: Burleson
State or Province: Tx

Flush rivets

Post by Ryanfscs »

Certainly sounds like die issues to me. Just some things to check. Are you squeezing the dimple dies hard enough? Correct dies/rivets? Pics could help out....

Maybe take some scrap and play with different tensions with the squeezer


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

stevegawler
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 10:07 am
First Name: Steve
Last Name: Gawler
City or Town: Ocala
State or Province: Fl

Flush rivets

Post by stevegawler »

Help!

Don't think I am getting acceptable flush rivets. Mine are slightly proud and if using AN rivets I would consider shaving some of them. I'm using Cleveland "120 degree dies for 1/8" blind rivets" in a DRT-2 and a Main Squeeze riveter, pulling them with a pneumatic gun at 30-40 PSI per Dan's suggestion that a slower pull is better. Just don't seem to have deep enough dimples and the overall quality when pulled is inconsistent- not good enough for me. Considering starting over and/or just using dome head rivets.

Looking at Tony's web site, specifically picture 154/tail section, his dimples are larger than the rivets and that the pulling action also pulls the dimple and rivet down slightly so that the whole area is below the plane of the skin. Am I seeing this right? When I create a dimple the rivet does not fit "down" in it before I pull it. In fact, when I put a rivet in the dimple I can't see the dimple at all. Wondering if I have some bad dies.

Any ideas?

Post Reply