Riveting

[johnnycanuck]

Hi there, I need some riveting advice. I vaguely recall from high school shop class lo' these many years ago that when riveting, you were supposed to gently round/chamfer the edges of the rivet to be peined, and cut it off 1.5 diameters above the surface it was supposed to be riveted to.

I think....

I am starting work on a mikov kit and want to know, more or less, how much to leave proud at each end of the pivot rivet, as well as the itty bitty scale rivets.

Thanks in advance.

JC

[Bill DeShivs]

JC
You must have taken "Shipbuilding" in shop!
Leave about 1/16" in height. Use a tiny (1-2 oz.) hammer, and use light taps all around the head. Chamfering the pin is not necessary, but you can do it if you want to take the time. Good luck on your project!
Bill

[johnnycanuck]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the info. As to shipbuilding, I am not sure... but we were using rivets with pre-rounded heads. The drill was to use a backing plate with a matching round hole, then, as you say, use a small hammer to tap the protrusion down. I may have had the amount of exposure wrong...

I was thinking of using a little hammer, but also using a flat nosed punch to transfer the blow to the rivet head instead of trying to do direct blows.

JC

[Bill DeShivs]

The punch will work if you are not comfortable using the hammer.
Bill

[mr_edge]

Johnny,
Being an amateur, I always use a punch for peening. But as Bill once pointed out...it helps to have 3 hands if you're using a punch.

[Doc Rocket]

Don't forget to post a finished pix...

[johnnycanuck]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the advice. I am off to find a wee tiny little ball pein hammer. I think I'll try a couple of times on some scrap to make sure my hand eye coordination is good enough...

I just have to figure out how to get enough stand off on the bottom half of the rivet, while doing the top half. I guess, if I am doing it two hand style (hammer to rivet) as opposed to three hand style (hammer, punch, rivet), then I can probably just hold it with one hand and go to it. It should be fun!

I have done some fiddling with the spring and spring notch (?) on the back of the blade to get the blade into line with the handle. Pretty well there now, though the top of the spring is a bit higher than the back of the blade. I am thinking to either file the bottom of the spring down a bit more to bring it in line, or just get it all straight and tickety and file everything, bolsters, blade, spring true. If I go this route, I will have to true up the filework on the spring though.

The lockup is not bad, just a smidgen of wiggle. I am going to have to do the anneal and hammer to close the gap a bit though. It should be interesting heating up the tang without annealing the rest of the blade. I was thinking of trying to close up the gap, then file the notch open at a slight angle to get a nice tight, self compensating lockup.

These kits are *really* fun!

JC

PS, Doc, I will definitely post pics

[Doc Rocket]

The lockup is not bad, just a smidgen of wiggle. I am going to have to do the anneal and hammer to close the gap a bit though. It should be interesting heating up the tang without annealing the rest of the blade.

Instead of annealing I have found that some gentle work with a ball peen hammer on the THICK side ONLY of the notch tang works great. if you hit the smaller area you risk splitting the notch. Give it solid taps on each side (10 at a time) and flip. Then check the fit till it fits firm. I have found about fifty per side in the end works great --> but it will of course vary. I use a large ball peen hammer and let it do the work. If you go too far a bit of gentle file work will set it right. Hope this helps.

[johnnycanuck]

Doc,

Thanks for the pointer! I was hoping to avoid having to hit the blade with a torch, so I will go this way for sure. So, largeish "regular" sized pein hammer for this job I take it?

Friendly support like this makes this a great forum!

Best regards

JC

[Doc Rocket]

Use a large ball peen for this but don't hit hard. Let the weight of the hammer do the work. Take you time. You'll be more accurate with your hits that way. It's like peening I found it's better to do more light taps to form it into place. Patience.... Grasshopper You'll be snapping soon.