Can anyone help us with rivets?

[SarahEllie]

Hi, so we are trying to remove the rivets on the window frames so we block out 23 of our 28 windows. We watched a YouTube video that said to use an angel grinder on the back side of the rivets and then push out the front of them. However, that just put deep grooves on the frame and melted the rivet to the frame.

We watched another YouTube video where the guy used a drill on the back of the river to push it through. That was great, it worked for 2 1/2 windows but then it kept breaking our drill bits.

We watched another YouTube video that said to use an air chisel to pop off the front of the rivets and then push the back of it out. We tried that and it just busted us the front of the rivet and left a deep groove on the outside of the bus.

We are getting really discouraged now because nothing seems to be working. I'll attach pictures to show you what we are going for. If you know how to get these rivets without damaging the bus or if you know a way we can do this without removing the rivets, please let us know!

[mmoore6856]

only buy cobalt drill bits. using a angle grinder with thin (cutoff) wheels takes some practice. air chisels need a good compressor. when sharpening air chisel bits only grind one side long the other side should be very short. only 10 % as long as the long side. its not a easy job but we can do it

[rossvtaylor]

Like mmoore said... regrind the chisel. Most air chisels come with a point that's tapered on both sides. What you really want is an almost flat side, to put against the bus sheeting, and one tapered side...much like a wood chisel. An ideal chisel would have a bend, too, so you could lay the flat part against the bus sheetmetal while allowing clearance for the tool itself. We modified a floor scraper blade from a demolition hammer, since it's hard to find a good off-the-shelf option. But if you grind the chisel like mmoore said, it will help a lot.

[ssslowrider]

use a quality large diameter metal drill bit on the expanded side of rivet.use a slow drilling speed which will allow you to remove metal from rivet without penetrating the surrounding metal . set your drill chuck at a low clutch setting so you dont twist or break

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by SarahEllie

We are getting really discouraged now because nothing seems to be working. I'll attach pictures to show you what we are going for. If you know how to get these rivets without damaging the bus or if you know a way we can do this without removing the rivets, please let us know!

I'm keeping all of my windows (I even added three additional ones) but if I wanted to delete some of them, I think the simplest (and most aesthetically pleasing) way would be to make window "blanks" the same width, height and depth as the original windows, then remove the originals and insert the blanks and seal them up in the same way (the windows of most buses are just pressure-fit into the openings and then three screws into each rib secure each adjacent pair of windows). The "blank" could be just two pieces of plywood and an outer piece of sheet metal, all glued together. No welding, riveting or rivet removal would be necessary.

[musigenesis]

Also, if you're near Philadelphia and your bus is a high-ceiling International (with 29" tall windows) I would make these blanks for you in return for your windows (I have already broken three of my windows).

[Native]

Are these the rivets holding the piece of sheet metal between the windows ... vertical pieces?


Are you removing them for a roof raise?


Are you removing them because you are going to put new sheet metal up?


If either of the latter two are the case, what do you care if the metal is marred?