[AT] Rivet how-to

[Larry D. Goss]

There was a short story about the riveting process with the forge,
catcher, dolly, etc, that was in the literature reader we had when I was
a freshman in high school.  I think it was about the construction of the
Empire State Building.

My experience with riveting mower sections is that they have to swell
and fill the hole if you want them to last.  If you don't use a
technique that does that, the small amount of slop will cause the
sections to loosen up in no time at all.

When I was working on the MD-6, I decided I didn't want to rivet all
those sections by hand, so I bought one of the riveting tools that TSC
sells.  That device makes the process exceptionally simple and fast.
With it, I can install all the sections on a five-foot knife in around a
half hour.

I still use the sledge hammer and bench vise combination to remove
sections, though.  I've broken two punches on the expensive riveting
tool simply because I didn't have it lined up squarely before cranking
down to remove an old rivet.

Larry
 

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of H. L. Staples
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 2:17 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: RE: [AT] Rivet how-to



Larry I was once told that cutter bar rivets should not be heated
because
you don't want them to swell in the hole, you just want to form a second
head.  These rivets are pretty soft.



While I was in high school (about the same time fire was discovered as a
cooking aid.)  A four story steel frame building was being erected
across
the street. The members were being joined with hot rivets.  An artist on
the
ground was operating the forge and throwing the hot rivets up to the
riveter
who cought them in a funnel like device. They were then inserted and set
with an air hammer. Never did see a missed pitch or catch. 



H. L. 





On 2/3/2006 12:46:51 PM, Larry D. Goss (rlgoss at evansville.net) wrote: >
Thanks for chiming in, George. I figured you would know more about it >
than I do. Just out of curiosity, is there a general "rule of thumb" >
concerning hot vs. cold riveting related to size? > > In looking through
some references last night, I found that rivet > specifications are
given differently for shop vs. field installation. > That came as news
to me after trying to teach students something about > the process for
better than 30 years. > > FWIW, on another list > I've been talking for
a couple years about a > tractor restoration project I've > been working
on. Part of it involved > the complete restoration of an MD-6 sickle
mower bar -- everything from > the pitman outward. That is the design
that was purchased and modified > for use as a tractor-mounted mower
back in the 40's. One of the things > that has apparently disappeared
from the market are the rivets that we > all used to have a supply of
for making new pitman bars. I finally > found a supply of them at
Johnson Hardware in Orrville, Ohio, and > through a series of email
threads and actions by members of that group I > now have the entire
inventory. This is just something to keep in mind > if you need to build
an historically correct sickle bar for some reason.
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