Snap rivets

Hello,can anyone give me some advice in the use of rivet snaps.I have two and up to now have not had any luck using them.Have looked on you tube but have found little.Any pictures would be useful.Cheers

One snap is held vertically in the bench vice depression upwards, slip the rivit into the hole and then rest the head in the depression in the vice held snap.

You should then "set" the work, some snaps have a hole in them to do this or you can make a simple hollow punch that fits over the rivit shank. Once over the shank give it a blow with your hammer and it will make sure teh plates are pushed together and tight against the underside of teh rivits head.

Now take your second snap and place the depression over the end of the rivit, a few sharp blows will then form the rivit head. If it looks like the ricit wants to lean one way then tilt the punch for the next blow to push it back straight.

On larger rivits you may want to do the initial shaping with the ball end of the hammer or make a conical punch to part form the head before finishing with the snap.

Allow approx 1.5 x rivit diameter protruding to form the head, do a few test rivits to get the allowance to suit your snap

J

I always use the ball end of a suitably sized hammer to do the initial shaping on any rivet size; one can then avoid a sudden sideways collapse of the rivet. Note that you may need to first trim the rivet to the right length first. Colin

As with all things involving learning a manual skill and getting "the knack" required for reliable, repeatable results beginners need to take a bit of extra care with things that the experienced folk just do.

When riveting:-

1) Inspect the holes very carefully. Make sure they are clean, round and free from burrs. Yes the rivets can deform a bit to take up imperfections but thats for experienced guys, who will get the holes right anyway

2) Get the work properly supported and aligned on the snap so it stays put when you start wacking things. Can be a classic" octopus has an unfair advantage in life" thing when the shop gremlins start finding inventive ways to push everything the wrong way. Who cares if it takes 5 minutes per rivet at first. Its still a heck of a lot faster than a do-over.

3) Set the work properly with a decent thump. Many folk are far too timid here.

4) Cut the rivet to length with a nice clean end. Maybe chisel off against a plate of the right thickness with nicely fitting holes. The sort of indeterminate pointy thing you get from nippers or side cutters is not going to help.

5) Unless its soft alloy or really tiny best to make a start with with the ball end of the hammer so you can have things pretty symmetric with some guiding effct on the snap. Its very easy to start with the snap a bit off line in angle or position or both. Naturally once it starts off line it just gets worse.

Right size hammer too.

Clive

(Who is pretty pants at rivets, partly because I rarely do any but mostly 'cos I didn't take the time to learn proper technique. Only half a dozen to do, just bash 'em in was not a good way to start.)

I always add a very slight countersink to each side - very slight. I find I then get a much more sound end result.

Many thanks for the replies.I hope to have a fighting chance. cheers