first panel riveted in... for the love of all that is holy, get a pneumatic rivet gun

[toadster]

LOL got the first F-panel installed and realized I didn't have any oil for my air riveter, so I used my manual rivet gun...

OMG I can't imagine doing this whole car with a hand rivet gun! to those of you who have, I'm sure you have a FIRM handshake!
IMG_9652.jpg

Highly recommend that you get an air riveter, the one below also has a catch bucket so you don't have the rivet shanks all over the floor, believe it or not a bunch of them can be quite slippery! like ball bearings!

Aircraft Tool Supply Air Air Hydraulic Riveter Kit
rVzW53K.png

what's nice is that there are adaptive sizes

off to get some oil so I save my hands LOL

[TMartinLVNV]

Haha, it wasn't that bad. The 1/8" rivets are easy. Wait until you try to do a 3/16" rivet by hand. That takes some strength. I did use an air riveter as well. But, probably for about half of the car. Sometimes it was in a tight space or I just didn't feel like turning on the compressor and messing with the air line.

[i.e.427]

Have 2 rivet guns, one loaded up for 1/8" rivets and the other for 3/16" rivets. Many cars builds for customers and have never used a pneumatic rivet gun. Reason is I never install that many rivets all at once. Couple here and a couple there. Best thing about the hand rivet gun is you can feel if a rivet "pulled" tight. If you have one and like it great, use it. I have no reason to change the way I've done it for over 20 years.

[Jeff Kleiner]

I'm in the firm handshake camp with Frank (i.e.427). Don't like dragging around the hose and want to be able to feel a rivet pull tight and seat. I bought a pneumatic one and used it for about 50% of the rivets in the first car then about 10% in the second build---mostly just to see if I had changed my other mind---and haven't used it on any of the others since. After it languished in the bottom drawer of my tool box for about a decade I gave it away to a beginning builder on the forums several years ago.

Use it if you like it; lots of guys do!

Jeff

[michael everson]

I finally decided to buy this. No more air hose. Works awesome. Not really priced for the one time car builder though.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauke...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[ptbashor]

I finally decided to buy this. No more air hose. Works awesome. Not really priced for the one time car builder though.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauke...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

It is if you don't own an air compressor. I was planning on buying one just for the rivet gun but this gives me another option. Any other air tools that are a must have?

[jrcuz]

I had 2 rivet guns didn't use either on my build and ended up giving 1 away. Same reason as Mr. Kleiner I don't like dragging the air hose around plus anly one car garage and my 25 gallon compressor is pretty noisy.
JR

[RBachman]

I have one and love it. Much easier than the pneumatic, easier to get into tight places, 1500+ rivets and never a miss.

I finally decided to buy this. No more air hose. Works awesome. Not really priced for the one time car builder though.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauke...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[The Halligan]

I finally decided to buy this. No more air hose. Works awesome. Not really priced for the one time car builder though.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauke...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Glad I found this. I'm adding it to my list of must have tools right now. Thanks!

[emac]

When I built my car the kids were still pretty young and easily manipulated into helping. I would have one sticking rivets in holes and another one shagging shanks. If they did a good job I let them write their name on a panel with a sharpie! The good ol days.

Firm handshake club for me.

[Caddy Dad]

I finally decided to buy this. No more air hose. Works awesome. Not really priced for the one time car builder though.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauke...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

I bought one too. Love it! Easy to use and battery lasts a long time. I've only had to use a hand riveter one time where I placed a hole too close to a corner and couldn't get the tool head in tight.

One of my favorite tools.

[GoDadGo]

Sorry Mr. Toad,

My Wild Ride Is 100% Hand Riveted!

https://youtu.be/T3WOAOF0scE

It made me pay attention to what I was doing.

Steve

[rich grsc]

It's a shame how lazy people have gotten. Three builds, guess I have a firm handshake. Even with arthritis setting in the hands, I'd still pull my rivets by hand, that way I know they set correctly.

[Papa]

It's a shame how lazy people have gotten. Three builds, guess I have a firm handshake. Even with arthritis setting in the hands, I'd still pull my rivets by hand, that way I know they set correctly.

I bet you still use an outhouse, too, while us lazy people stay inside where it's warm and throw our corn cobs in the trash.

[edwardb]

Looks like we've found our new man card test. And here I thought it was only about power steering and how many clecos it takes.

[toadster]

LOL you guys never dissapoint!

[narly1]

Three words:

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome!

[GoDadGo]

I bet you still use an outhouse, too, while us lazy people stay inside where it's warm and throw our corn cobs in the trash.

Hey Papa,

I often tell my kids that our family is the sum of three (3) Out House Crappers and One (1) Semi-Debutante.

> My Pop started pooping indoors when he joined the Navy in 1950.
> My Father-In-Law ten years later when he joined the Coast Guard in 1960.
> My Mother-In-Law had the best organic out door toilet (She' From Hawaii) and went in doors in 1965.
> My Mom was far more cultured and had indoor plumbing so that's why we called her the Semi-Debutante of the bunch.

Just know that Corn Cobs weren't used in South Louisiana nor over in Hawaii, but old news papers were.

Steve

NOTE:...Today those new papers truly need to be recycled in the same manner!

[Joecobr]

Firm handshake for me! And I used the tight spacing for all my rivets. Frankly, don't understand the appeal of a pneumatic one.

[Avalanche325]

HAND built. Not pneumatic built!

Your going to be a Cobra driver........harden up!

Stay with the manual gun. That way if you ever get marooned in the south pacific, you can easily open coconuts.

[Papa]

HAND built. Not pneumatic built!

Your going to be a Cobra driver........harden up!

Stay with the manual gun. That way if you ever get marooned in the south pacific, you can easily open coconuts.

I figured going without a heater and driving 80 miles in 20 degree weather should give me a pass on that.

[NiceGuyEddie]

My personal experience was the hole-drilling was 99% of it, and the rivets were 1% of it. I don't think I ever did more than 100 pop rivets in a single session.

[Avalanche325]

I figured going without a heater and driving 80 miles in 20 degree weather should give me a pass on that.

I have a heater. I guess I'm not that hard after all.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Do you boys with pneumatic riveters moisturize? Asking for a friend.

Jeff

[rich grsc]

I bet you still use an outhouse, too, while us lazy people stay inside where it's warm and throw our corn cobs in the trash.

You should see the size of my tomatoes.

[Papa]

Do you boys with pneumatic riveters moisturize? Asking for a friend.

Jeff

Yep -- A few drops of pneumatic tool oil every use.

[initiator]

My first manual riveter was hard to pull even 1/8" rivets, almost impossible for 3/16". It eventually broke and the replacement works much easier (still a manual). I wonder if there's a bunch of defective manual riveters out there? And I'm not talking about rich, paul, or godadgo.

[Avalanche325]

Do you boys with pneumatic riveters moisturize? Asking for a friend.

Jeff

No. It makes their mascara run.


Not that mascara means you can't be tough.Floki.jpg

[Ian G]

Manual riveter for me. No heater either.

[toadster]

Tonight I oiled my gun, and pulled the trigger - she was really good, didn’t even have to try hard... Over and over, she kept up with me, although I had to widen one hole. After that it was all perfect ��

[kgkeys]

Drill, Baby, DRILL!

Kyle

[cv2065]

When you can only use one arm...well, you know the rest....

[ydousurf]

Through the entire build process, I'm hoping to NOT buy at least these three tools:
- Rivet Gun
- Brake Line Flaring Tool
- Engine Hoist (I'll just rent one)
Why? Simple, I really have absolutely no plans to use them afterwards and just can't justify the costs. With that said, I hope to find a local Colorado builder/mechanic Roadster enthusiast who can flare my brake lines and I do plan to pay for each flare. I'm not one who believes in "free" borrowing of a tool. There is always wear-n-tear on tools and that should always be factored-in.
As for riveting, I've always said I would go manual method! As crazy as it sounds, I do plan to have a complete count of rivets in each of the; front/engine bay, cockpit and rear/trunk areas. Hell, maybe I'll make a piece of art from pieces? Hmmm... And like the rest of the journey, I'll plan to just do as much as I can, until it's time and walk away once I've done enough for the day or night. And for what it's worth, in the end I can say it was a lot of joy (not hard work) and the majority of it was literally hand labor to completely assemble. I'm not dogging those with rivet guns, shoot em if you got em! But I do like what a few have said... that it's in the "feel" that you can experience if the rivet held really good or possibly it needs to be drilled back-out and redone and I'm not sure if a gun will give you that confidence that it's nice and secure? Then again, I've never used one. Anyway, rivet, ribbit until you croak :P

Dj

[Papa]

Dj,

You are more than welcome to come down and flare all the lines you need. I don't loan my tools out, but I'm happy to share if you want to come use them in my shop. My rental fee is usually a six-pack of "good" beer per day. None of that watered down weasel piss stuff.

Dave

[Gadsden]

Over the Holidays when i started riveting my footboxes I thought it would be a good excuse to get a pnumatic rivit gun.

So off to Harbor Freight, purchased one from them. Got home and opened the package to find that everything was missing except for the actual gun, no instructions, no nipples, etc. Back to HF, for an exchange, confirmed all was in the box.

Brought the new one home and started to prep it, while filling with oil, i noticed that there was already a small amount in it.....This should have been a clue. As i continued to fill it, oil poured out of the device.......Second clue.....When i completed filling and put it right side up, the leaking stopped, so I proceeded.

First test pull of the trigger sprayed a massive amount of fluid all over my floor, my coupe, and the garage door about 12 feet away. The mess was all over....I was done. Took it back to HF as it was, with the remaining fluid, for a full refund. I was frustrated but polite to the cashier. When she asked why i was returning, i said it leaked. My son spoke up and said "it made a huge mess and squired ALL OVER the garaged...Dad was soooo MAD." The cashier was very apologetic!

I did the footboxes manually and will continue to do it manually from now on!

[ydousurf]

Dj,

You are more than welcome to come down and flare all the lines you need. I don't loan my tools out, but I'm happy to share if you want to come use them in my shop. My rental fee is usually a six-pack of "good" beer per day. None of that watered down weasel piss stuff.

Dave

hahah - I almost spit my tea out reading that! Dave, I hear ya! All these beers on the market and the majority of them are just terrible! Name your poison and I'll take you up on that offer, but I'll bring a 12-pack at least! BTW - I still want to make the journey down there to meet/greet ya, perhaps I'll work with you in March to pay a visit and bring some tasty suds along with? Not that I'm ready for flaring just yet, but you can chalk it up to an entrance fee for views and questions

Dj

[Papa]

hahah - I almost spit my tea out reading that! Dave, I hear ya! All these beers on the market and the majority of them are just terrible! Name your poison and I'll take you up on that offer, but I'll bring a 12-pack at least! BTW - I still want to make the journey down there to meet/greet ya, perhaps I'll work with you in March to pay a visit and bring some tasty suds along with? Not that I'm ready for flaring just yet, but you can chalk it up to an entrance fee for views and questions

Dj

I'm good with pretty much any wheat beer. No pilsner or IPA. A couple of favorite Colorado beers are New Belgian Abby or 1554 and Longs Peak Raspberry Wheat.

Let me know when you want to come down. I enjoy having fellow builders and enthusiasts come by.

Dave

[Papa]

Over the Holidays when i started riveting my footboxes I thought it would be a good excuse to get a pnumatic rivit gun.

So off to Harbor Freight, purchased one from them. Got home and opened the package to find that everything was missing except for the actual gun, no instructions, no nipples, etc. Back to HF, for an exchange, confirmed all was in the box.

Brought the new one home and started to prep it, while filling with oil, i noticed that there was already a small amount in it.....This should have been a clue. As i continued to fill it, oil poured out of the device.......Second clue.....When i completed filling and put it right side up, the leaking stopped, so I proceeded.

First test pull of the trigger sprayed a massive amount of fluid all over my floor, my coupe, and the garage door about 12 feet away. The mess was all over....I was done. Took it back to HF as it was, with the remaining fluid, for a full refund. I was frustrated but polite to the cashier. When she asked why i was returning, i said it leaked. My son spoke up and said "it made a huge mess and squired ALL OVER the garaged...Dad was soooo MAD." The cashier was very apologetic!

I did the footboxes manually and will continue to do it manually from now on!

Well, they don't have a tank to fill. A couple of drops in the air inlet as with most other pneumatic tools is all it takes.

Dave

[toadster]

Over the Holidays when i started riveting my footboxes I thought it would be a good excuse to get a pnumatic rivit gun.

So off to Harbor Freight, purchased one from them. Got home and opened the package to find that everything was missing except for the actual gun, no instructions, no nipples, etc. Back to HF, for an exchange, confirmed all was in the box.

Brought the new one home and started to prep it, while filling with oil, i noticed that there was already a small amount in it.....This should have been a clue. As i continued to fill it, oil poured out of the device.......Second clue.....When i completed filling and put it right side up, the leaking stopped, so I proceeded.

First test pull of the trigger sprayed a massive amount of fluid all over my floor, my coupe, and the garage door about 12 feet away. The mess was all over....I was done. Took it back to HF as it was, with the remaining fluid, for a full refund. I was frustrated but polite to the cashier. When she asked why i was returning, i said it leaked. My son spoke up and said "it made a huge mess and squired ALL OVER the garaged...Dad was soooo MAD." The cashier was very apologetic!

I did the footboxes manually and will continue to do it manually from now on!

there are some things I just won't buy from HF - this was one of them... my ATS8805K is a middle of the road model, there are ones in the $200-400 range but if you're building aircraft... well, you know.

honestly, it's stupid simple - place the rivet, pull the trigger, the shaft is collected in the cup... when the cup is full, rotate it over a garbage can and the slot in the top lets all the parts fall out, rotate the cup back and you're back in action again...

I also got a 360 Degree Swivel Connector so my hose doesn't get twisted... best $6 I spent!

[GTBradley]

Dj,

You are more than welcome to come down and flare all the lines you need. I don't loan my tools out, but I'm happy to share if you want to come use them in my shop. My rental fee is usually a six-pack of "good" beer per day. None of that watered down weasel piss stuff.

Dave

That “watered down weasel piss stuff” is good breakfast beer!