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Old 04-12-2015, 11:11 PM   #1
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Rivet question

I'm going to be doing a roof raise. When it is time to re-rivet, where is the best place to buy them? Do you have to have two people (one inside and one outside) and an air rivet gun to put them back in? Thanks in advance for any help.

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Old 04-12-2015, 11:21 PM   #2
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You dont need two people if you use pop rivets and a gun.
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Old 04-12-2015, 11:37 PM   #3
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Just read few pages and you will get an idea what and how.....

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/98...outs-9728.html


I used a lot of pop rivets and a lot of solid rivets for slideout. There are pros and cons.....
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Old 04-13-2015, 07:21 AM   #4
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I bought all my rivets from Rivets & More: Fasteners, Rivets and Tools | Byler Rivet
and used a Harbor freight rivet gun.
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Old 04-13-2015, 09:14 AM   #5
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Finding rivets here was too hard. A good rivet gun was over $500 and I don't use junk tools.

So I used 1/4 bolts.

Best part was they were cheaper that the rivets would have been.

Pics are here.

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/th...ime-10138.html

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Old 04-13-2015, 12:56 PM   #6
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For all my bulk fastener needs I buy from Rastall. They officially serve Northern Ontario as well as parts of Quebec, but they may ship elsewhere. They have fantastic customer service and, in the larger towns they service, they have representatives who will deliver the products to your doorstep for free! I don't know if they'd be of much use to you, Roadrunner, but hopefully someone can get use out of the info.

Rastall sells fasteners from a bunch of companies. I purchased big boxes of Spaenaur's solid rivets.

I tried the local Fastenal initially.. They were a bunch of useless tools. The employees were dumb as stones and the manager didn't want to deal with shipping inventory from other Fastenal stores. It seemed like they were doing everything in their power to drive customers away.
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Old 04-14-2015, 05:28 PM   #7
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I've been ordeing from rivetsinstock.com
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Old 04-15-2015, 12:34 AM   #8
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I'm in the pacific northwest and bought rivets from tacoma screw.

I picked up a rivet gun buck bar kit off amazon.
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Old 04-15-2015, 11:02 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronsb View Post
I'm in the pacific northwest and bought rivets from tacoma screw.

I picked up a rivet gun buck bar kit off amazon.
I think it is a good idea first to check your local guys. I found very reasonable prices in Vancouver BC at Pacific Fasteners when I was shopping for stainless screws.

I used only stainless closed end rivets for all outside riveting and it was a challenge to find them at reasonable price..... I found some good deals on eBay and some online fasteners stores....
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Old 04-15-2015, 11:15 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by allwthrrider View Post
I've been ordeing from rivetsinstock.com
I bought a lot of my rivets from them. They are also rivetsonline, and some other site redirect to them. The rivets are ok but people a HORRIBLE. Their owner Allan is arrogant and ignorant.

They screwed up my order and instead of making it work just showed me the middle finger.... In two words....NEVER AGAIN.....
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Old 04-15-2015, 12:12 PM   #11
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Vlad I really like your attitude on poor service. I also enjoy your can do attitude, keep up the good work and thanks for sharing the progress with the rest of us.
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Old 04-17-2015, 08:30 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vlad View Post
I bought a lot of my rivets from them. They are also rivetsonline, and some other site redirect to them. The rivets are ok but people a HORRIBLE. Their owner Allan is arrogant and ignorant.

They screwed up my order and instead of making it work just showed me the middle finger.... In two words....NEVER AGAIN.....
Interisting, I've ordered from them quit a few times so far havn't had a issue, in fact just got another delivery today
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Old 04-21-2015, 03:36 PM   #13
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I'm having a rough time choosing rivets. The material and size in particular are difficult. The hat channel in my bus is pre-punched with lots of holes; it's easy to measure that these are around 0.190 inch and so I guess they're intended for 3/16" rivets. The 3/16" Cleco fits these holes nicely. But every place where I removed a factory rivet, the hole is larger. It almost looks as if it could have held a 7/32" rivet, but I'm left wondering why the channel would be made with holes that are smaller than the rivets they'll use.

I understand solid rivets are supposed to deform on the end to secure the pieces together, but do they swell all along their length too so that what starts as a 3/16" hole through the parts actually grows to look like a 7/32" hole?

The material choice isn't so obvious to me. I'm joining steel, primarily galvanized but also some mild. Hard and soft aluminum and 18-8 stainless are readily available from Byler Rivet. The somewhat maligned rivetsonline.com also has plain steel rivets.

What about length? The guy I spoke with at rivetsonline.com says the rule of thumb is [part thickness]+[1.25 * rivet diameter], then round up. So for joining hat channel to the chair rail, which I think uses a 1/4" diameter, I've got two pieces of .083 thickness. 2*.082+1.25*.25 comes to 0.4725 -- a half inch length rivet. Is that really right? It seems crazy long.
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Old 04-21-2015, 03:55 PM   #14
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Are you speaking of solid rivets? The holes do deform from the use of the rivets. Even so, I didn't have any problem filling the extra large space with 3/16" solid rivets. I played around with a couple lengths before getting the knack of it. It's real easy to tell with solid rivets:
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Old 04-21-2015, 04:06 PM   #15
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Here is areal photo of real rivets I used. They are solid aluminum 1/4" diameter. I squished one in vise a bit. This is what happening to rivet:



So, rivet does expand/swell a lot inside, we usually don't see this. Rivet can easily push sheet metal around it.
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Old 04-21-2015, 04:08 PM   #16
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Old holes are stretched from the old rivets being installed, and from a life of movement.

Nat
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Old 04-21-2015, 04:43 PM   #17
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Heh. Yeah, I guess I left out the "solid" part.. important little detail. Thanks for the picture link. Seeing it graphically like that suddenly it makes more sense... except that their bucked rivet cylinder of 1.5Dx0.5D would have more volume than the original Dx1.5D cylinder began with. I won't ask how that works, but anyway it looks like the 1.25D-1.5D rule of thumb checks out.
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Old 04-21-2015, 05:14 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by family wagon View Post
Heh. Yeah, I guess I left out the "solid" part.. important little detail. Thanks for the picture link. Seeing it graphically like that suddenly it makes more sense... except that their bucked rivet cylinder of 1.5Dx0.5D would have more volume than the original Dx1.5D cylinder began with. I won't ask how that works, but anyway it looks like the 1.25D-1.5D rule of thumb checks out.
The rivet on left is 1/2" from bottom to top. The straight portion is 3/8". I riveted 2 pieses of 1/8" and even 3 pieces (drilled cone hole on other side).

So I used 1D rule and it worked great. If you leave too much sometimes rivet tends to bend/fold.

Anything from 1D to 1.5D will work you will simply have more rivet material behind....

If your holes are bigger they will "consume" some of your rivet hight.

Pop rivets are much more sensitive to drill size, solid ones will forgive you.....

Funny, I am riveting my slide out frame right now. ....
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Old 04-21-2015, 05:19 PM   #19
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Pop rivets are much more sensitive to drill size, solid ones will forgive you.....
Thanks, that's the best news I've heard all day!
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Old 04-28-2015, 08:50 AM   #20
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I just ordered a bunch of rivets from Bolt Depot. I had previously used closed-end rivets from RivetsInStock.com but I think the only ones they have are aluminum and stainless steel. I used the aluminum 1/4" ones to patch holes in the floor of my bus before I knew what galvanic corrosion was, haha.

Here is the prices on their rivets, steel mandrel / rivet. Pretty good if you ask me:



And the Harbor Freight 1/4" rivet gun works real well. I know wmkbailey used one to put 1,000+ rivets in his bus to skin over the windows and for the roof raise. I know some are opposed to their tools because they are usually unforgivably crappy but that rivet gun seems to be one of those gifts that keeps on giving.

I'm with family wagon on drill size though. A 1/4" bit is a little too small for a 1/4" rivet usually but instead of going a drill bit size up, I usually just ream the hole out a little with the drill and it works fine. If you're in a spot where that s tough or if you are using a drill press I would use a bit that is 1/32" up (9/32 for a 1/4" rivet etc).
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