Joined: May 2018 Posts: 2,108 Threads: 110
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Location: Llandrindod Wells
Car type: 29 Special, 30 RK, 28 C Cab
Hi Squeek
Not sure! You may have to use a washer under the head of the pop rivet and that might make it a bit too thick? You may also have a job finding pop rivets of the correct diameter and length to fully fill the hole.
I think that the traditional rivets are a relatively close fit in the hole and work by being compressed into the hole. Correct me if wrong but pop rivets work by simply drawing the head in tension and rely on friction between the two surfaces?
Am I talking a load of guff????
Cheers
Howard
Joined: Apr 2018 Posts: 191 Threads: 76
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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.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 3,393 Threads: 106
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Location: Darkest Bedfordshire
Well done John, I knew you could do it!
Further to our conversation yesterday, I understand from my sister that Mr. Friend senior passed on some time ago, but the garage at Ivybridge is now in the hands of his son Nick. They were certainly 'A7 people' in the past so if you are passing through Ivybridge any time it might be worth dropping by to enquire - I don't know of much else in the South Hams.