Rivet Squeezer help

Hello everyone.

I am in the process of making a Rivet Squeezer to help me complete the riveting needed on the 1" Minnie I'm building.

Based on 1/16" copper rivets, what is the best method to produce the dome within the rivet snap?

Thanks

I've made ordinary snaps by first of all making a small indentation with a twist drill, then heating the material and hammering it onto a ball bearing of suitable size.

Hope that helps.

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/searchresults.asp?Search=rivet

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=169081

Or to expand on Clive's idea, grind an old twist-drill to arcuate edges. Sight against a rivet-head to test the shape.

steps I used to make a number of rivet sets:

1. make a punch the desired shape and size of the finished rivet head, from tool steel (drill rod / silver steel).

2. harden the punch.

3. make the die blank from tool steel also, anneal it, pre-drill the pocket slightly smaller than the desired head.

4. heat the die blank to red heat, drive the punch into it with a hammer or a press to form the recess.

5. clean up the die blank, harden and temper, polish.

3mm ball nosed milling cutter will give very close to the correct radius and go in 0.025"

Hello all, thanks for the reply’s

Jason, is there any science behind the 0.025 of is it just what worked?

There is and I have given you the wrong science, thought it sounded small when I typed it

The head radius should be 0.055 or 0.110" diameter to give a base of 1.75D so closest ball nose cutter is 3mm. depth should be 0.75D say 0.045". Sizes from Sapphire

Sizes do vary a bit particularly in the smaller sizes but that's a good starting point, and do a couple of tests as well as offering up a rivit head as you form the head with the ball nose cutter to judge what depth suits your rivits.

Edited By JasonB on 27/01/2023 20:03:54

When I made my rivet sqeezer my method was to make a round ended D bit. If you first create a gauge by drilling a piece of sheet material the size you require and then sawing and filing the sheet to act as a radius gauge. Chuck a suitable piece of silver steel and round the end to fit the gauge. Mixture of rough turning and file work (I hand turned mine) finishing off with emery and then polishing to a fine finish. File away half the diameter and harden. Clean up and sharpen by touching up the flat on a whet stone. You should now have a tool capable of forming a round dimple in the end of your embryo punch. I generally start the process by drilling a shallow start and then follow up with the D bit. Go a little deeper than you need and the face the end off gradually to obtain the correct depth using a standard rivet as a gauge. It’s best to create a small radius on the rim of the hole.

Sort out the thread on the other end and harden.

regards Martin

Edited By Martin Kyte on 27/01/2023 20:24:43

Thank you

All done and seems to work ok.

Make a start now on riveting the Minnie.

Nicely made tool.

Robert Butler

An old mate of mine used to run the night shift in Metal Detail at Marshalls Aerospace as a tender 22 year old in the 50’s. (Airframe work). They were required to submit rivet test specimens every so often. He said they used to set everything up in the fly press so they all came out perfect. They were all on piecework and it got the tests out of the way in double quick time.

regards Martin

Looks a nice tool, it will be interesting to see how many of the Minnie rivits you can actually get to with it