Alternative to an air chisel?

[swisha2k]

Hi,

Has anyone used a cordless (or corded) impact hammer or rotary hammer to remove the rivets from the exterior of their bus?

Just curious as I would rather not want to invest my limited space in an air compressor at the moment and I think a buddy of mine has a Milwaukee 18v hammer drill with a chisel bit.

Before I ask to borrow I just wanted some perspective in that approach.

Thanks in advance.

[Mahali]

I’ve gone the air chisel/compressor route and honestly not worth it. Get a 1” chisel (for metal obviously) and use your grinder to get it halfway decently sharp. Use that and a 2-3pound one handed sledge hammer. Two hits per rivet, it ends up being faster than the air chisel. Free work out too!

[Placeholder Bus Name]

We went the air chizel route as well. It was less work on my own body, but it wasn't any faster than doing it by hand. It took me 6 hours to do all the side panels on our 40' bus.

[Native]

Put my name in for a hand chisel, they work well. However, I have not tried an air chisel so I have no comparison.

[EastCoastCB]

You folks are obviously doing something wrong or missing something.

Punching out the center mandrel and shearing off the head I can take the ceilings out of a 40' school bus in a couple hours total.
You can't use a tiny air compressor. You also have to press the air chisel hard against the rivets.

Hand hammering/chiseling all those sounds horrible and silly to me.