There are also specialty rivets with extra-wide heads, used for belly pan repairs. You can find the basic type in hardware stores.
#BUCK RIVET TOOL INSTALL#
The video below is a quick demonstration of how easy it is to install a blind rivet.Īirstream uses a variety of pop rivets, but most are aluminum and most have 1/8” diameter body or 3/16” diameter body. This makes the rivet expand in the hole and eventually the mandrel snaps off, which tells you the job is done. Hold the rivet tool firmly against the surface while squeezing the handle three or four times. To replace a blind rivet, you put the thin end of a new rivet in the tool (the thin end is called the mandrel) and press the wider tail end of the rivet into the hole. (The black ring is aluminum oxide, caused by the loose rivet head rubbing.)
You’ll know a blind rivet is broken because it will either be obviously loose, missing, or you’ll see a little ring of black around the head of the rivet. A good rivet tool is a pleasure to use, whereas cheap ones can be awkward and prone to jamming.Ī single broken or missing blind rivet is not a serious issue. If you buy a tool, don’t skimp on quality. Since you can put one in without needing access to both sides of the aluminum, it only takes one person.Ī hand-operated rivet tool is something that should go into your everyday tool kit, because blind rivets do occasionally break and replacing them is a very easy job if you have a few spares and the rivet tool on hand. (POP rivets was the original brand name.) These rivets are easy to install and replace, using a different kind of rivet tool. Blind rivetsĪlso known as “POP” rivets, these are mostly found on the inside of the Airstream. Good teams can put in a perfect rivet every three or four seconds.
Then, as a pair, they move to the next rivet without delay. The difference between “too short” and “too long” is less than a second, so the riveters rely on their experience and the tone of the hammering to know exactly when to stop. Hammering too long will flatten the rivet too much, which also lowers its strength and can look cosmetically awful on the exterior. Stopping too early means the rivet won’t fully deform and thus it won’t fill the hole for maximum holding power. Under normal circumstances, this rivet is in place forever, and it seals so tightly to the body panel that sealant is not needed for the rivet to be waterproof. The rivet gun very quickly hammers the rivet, pushing it inward and squashing the tail against the bucking bar, which causes the tail to get shorter and wider. This fills the hole and locks the two pieces of aluminum together very strongly.
The inside installer holds a shaped metal tool called a “bucking bar” that is pressed against the tail (or stem) of the rivet.
#BUCK RIVET TOOL HOW TO#
How to buck a rivet-The outside installer holds an air-powered rivet tool, which is sort of a miniature jackhammer that pounds on the mushroom head of the rivet. To install these requires a team of two people working together like dance partners. This bond will last the life of the Airstream, unless damaged in a collision. These very strong rivets hold two panels together, or fasten a panel to one of the trailer’s internal ribs. They start life as little mushroom-shaped bits of aluminum. Most of the rivets you see on the exterior of your Airstream are “bucked” (solid) rivets. Most of the contestants are lucky to get about half the rivets in correctly even with some practice. At Alumapalooza we have held Rivet Masters contests for several years, where attendees get a quick lesson on how to put in a rivet properly and then compete for the fastest times. Those two people had to practice relentlessly and demonstrate their skill on practice sheets before they had the ability to repeatedly install rivets with speed and precision. In this age of robotic vehicle assembly you might be surprised to learn that each one of those rivets was placed on your Airstream by hand by a pair of skilled workers at the factory in Jackson Center, Ohio. Take those 5,000 rivets away and you’ve got a floppy pile of soft metal. Your Airstream is made of aluminum, but rivets are what make it strong.
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