28-05-2019, 05:33 PM
Well, I've just managed to complete the riveting and although it doesn't look very elegant I think it will be OK.
I'd been trying to do the job single handed but this meant I couldn't apply any force to the pressure plate to hold the rivet against the bottom tool. As Howard suggested I eventually got some help and this certainly improved the results.
I rested the rivet on a piece of rod held in the vice and with someone else holding the pressure plate initially used a piece of bar with a conical end to start the swaging process. No matter how careful I was this did give slightly variable results because the rivet tended to deform more on one side than the other and on a couple this created a split.
I then used the ball pein of a hammer resting on now splayed end of the rivet and struck the flat face of this hammer with another hammer effectively using the ball pein as a rivet set. This created a crude flange which would probably have been better if I had a smaller ball pein hammer available.
Finally I used the end of a large rolled thread bolt to complete the process. Because this bolt had a rolled thread the end was slightly concave and by chance this was very effective in pushing the newly created flange hard against the pressure plate.
Anyway, I'm relatively happy with the outcome so thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
John.
I'd been trying to do the job single handed but this meant I couldn't apply any force to the pressure plate to hold the rivet against the bottom tool. As Howard suggested I eventually got some help and this certainly improved the results.
I rested the rivet on a piece of rod held in the vice and with someone else holding the pressure plate initially used a piece of bar with a conical end to start the swaging process. No matter how careful I was this did give slightly variable results because the rivet tended to deform more on one side than the other and on a couple this created a split.
I then used the ball pein of a hammer resting on now splayed end of the rivet and struck the flat face of this hammer with another hammer effectively using the ball pein as a rivet set. This created a crude flange which would probably have been better if I had a smaller ball pein hammer available.
Finally I used the end of a large rolled thread bolt to complete the process. Because this bolt had a rolled thread the end was slightly concave and by chance this was very effective in pushing the newly created flange hard against the pressure plate.
Anyway, I'm relatively happy with the outcome so thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
John.