riviting question

L

larry harding

Senior Member
I know I am going to be doing a lot of riveting on my 30 pick up project. other than a thousand pop rivets and a few on sprockets and brake drums on vintage bikes I haven't had much experience with them. I understand the body rivets on the a should be done hot. I would love to hear some advice or reference to some videos on how this is best done.
 
You need a good rivet gun, a few sets, which are sold by the various parts vendors to fit the head of the rivet being driven and a couple of bucking bars. With a good gun only the larger rivets will need to be driven hot.
The process is best done by two people. 1) Place the rivet in position 2) heat the end to be upset 3) position the rivet set on the manufactured head 4) position the bucking bar being careful not to push the head of the rivet out of position 5) set the rivet. This will result in an upset head that is flat. If a round head is desired a special set is required.
Be very careful if you use one of the inexpensive muffler cutters in place of a good rivet gun. The trigger on a muffler cutter is either on or off and will not allow any control of the riveting process.
There are lots of other ways to do the same thing. Experiment and find out what works best for you.
Good luck
 
The only rivets I have done hot on an A are on the frame and pickup tailgate chain brackets. All body and pickup bed rivets are done cold. You will need an air chisel, a buck, and rivet forming tools to match the rivet heads. I made a buck out of a 12" piece of axle, that I drilled a hole in to accept the 0.401 shank of the forming tool. This is a two man job. One man holds tbe rivet in the hole with the forming tool inserted in the the buck. The other man uses the air chisel with another forming tool to form the head. The protruding rivet shank length is very important in forming the proper head. Some may need to be cut shorter on a grinder for odd thicknesses of sheetmetal. This will come with experience. Practice on some scrap first. If you are assembling many parts some Cleco's will be handy. I can add some photos when I get bome or PM me.
 
I've ordered the two sizes of rivet tool for my air chisel which can be throttle a bit. it is not just off and on. I can probably make up other tools as I need them. i'm glad to know I don't need to do them hot on the smaller ones. i'm going to have a lot of riveting on the bed repairs. i'm not familiar with what a rivet gun is.
 
larry harding said:
I've ordered the two sizes of rivet tool for my air chisel which can be throttle a bit. it is not just off and on. I can probably make up other tools as I need them. i'm glad to know I don't need to do them hot on the smaller ones. i'm going to have a lot of riveting on the bed repairs. i'm not familiar with what a rivet gun is.
Click to expand...

There is Night vs. Day difference between a Rivet Gun and an Air Chisel. You can use a Rivet Gun in lieu of an Air Chisel, -but not visa-versa.
 
Do your self a favor and listen to guys that have done it. An air chisel isn't strong enough. You need the long barrel of a rivet gun to set the rivets. It hits harder than an air chisel.
I have a 4x which I used to set body type rivets on my '30 pickup. A 3x would have been better.
Below is a picture of a 3x and 4x rivet gun. Notice the length of the barrels compared to your air chisel.
 

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Larry,

This is a thread I started a while back.
http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63293
The riveting wasn't that bad of a job, actually pretty simple once you get a hang of it.
I think I bought a 3x rivet gun from a company called Aircraft Spruce (or something like that) and I believe it was called a red box.
It's a well made tool and comes with some bucking bars.

Tommy-
 
I lathed up a heavy handle much the same as a heavy slide on a slide hammer to house the rivet head sets that many "A" suppliers provide. It acts as a bucking bar weight. Then I use the tail forming set that same suppliers in the gun. I was told and it seems correct that Ford arranged the riveting process just the opposite from the aircraft industry (for which I work) in that Ford bucks the head of the rivet and aircraft folks buck the tail with a flat bucking bar.
So far I have been doing floor rivets on my 31 rdstr cold. No problemo

Gary
 
I have seen an old film that showed the assembly of the frame some time ago. The rivets that were in tight quarters, ie.at the rear and front crossmembers were squeezed with a rivet squeezer tool. It had a C shaped end that reached around behind and formed the inside head or waffle. Either with impact or a steady crunching action. (silent film). They still exist but they are Big Bucks. The buck shown above would be the only practical way now. The squeezer was fast and efficient though for the assembly line. I suspect that the rivets were not heated as the squeezer tool would be very powerful. This tool was air powered and suspended from a counter-balanced cable or chain. I have seen them on Epay used, very used and old.
 
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