[AT] Rivet how-to

[Larry D. Goss]

Good description of what the conditions were back in the 40's and 50's,
Farmer.  Mowing ditches was definitely hard on the knife.  We never had
a riveting tool, though, and we always pulled the knife for section
replacement.  The Herschel-Adams Riveting Vise that I now have is
designed so you can remove and install rivets on sections while the
knife is installed.  Every time I use it, I think back on how much
trouble it was to replace sections when all we had was a hammer and a
block of steel on the workbench.

With the Herschel-Adams tool, I'm putting rivets down through the
section so I end up with a really uniform appearance on the top of the
knife.  It's one of those little changes that I make when I know that
the real reason for rebuilding a knife is for show rather than for work.
When I was rebuilding a knife for Cecil Bearden last fall, I had to
insert them from the bottom (like they're supposed to be) because of the
design of the knife.  It has countersunk rivets on the sections.

John, you can make a rivet set of the right shape for your wheel spokes
by drilling a shallow hole in the end of a bar of steel.  The conical
shape will result automatically from the point of the drill.  But the
real problem as I see it is the amount of work it's going to take to set
a rivet that's a 1/2" in diameter.  I'd be tempted to heat the end of
the rivet with a torch so it doesn't take as much hammer work.

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Indiana
Robinson
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 8:16 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: RE: [AT] Rivet how-to

On 3 Feb 2006 at 18:55, Larry D. Goss wrote:
> 
> 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.
> 
>



	Hi Larry:

	That is also what I was taught and has been my observation.
 We used to make a lot of hay back when we had dairy and beef.
The sickle mower cut all of it then and also cut the road ditches.
Those road ditches cost us about 100 times as many sections
 as all of the hay fields combined. Cutting wheat and oats with 
the combine sickle never strained them much but cutting 
soybeans (and dirt) does.
	I was taught to sit the sickle on the big anvil and put the
rivet 
up through the bar and the section. Then you placed the hole in 
the rivet set over the rivet and hit it to be sure the section was all 
the way down against the bar. Next you hit the rivet firmly straight 
down with the flat face of the hammer a time or two to swell the 
body of the rivet to remove all play between the rivet and the sides 
of the hole. Only then did you peen the head of the rivet using the 
dome shaped dimple in the rivet set tool. I have also peened a zillion
rivets using the ball peen but always after swelling the rivet to fill
the 
hole.
	I have a simple tool I made to support the rivet when the sickle
is 
still in the cutter bar. It is just an old king pin I had saved from
some 
old car or truck repair. I drilled a shallow dimple in the end to keep
 it centered on the rivet then I ground two flats on that end so that it
 would fit up into the opening between two guards. I carried that and
 an oak block as well as a punch, small chisel and ball peen hammer
 with me back when I was mowing several rough factory lots.
 I also of course kept a box with sections and rivets. I could line up 
the rivet at the space between the guards and lift the end of the cutter
 bar a little. I put the oak block on the ground and put the king pin 
tool under the new rivet and sitting on the oak block. 
It was then easy to swell and peen the rivet in place. It saved a lot of

sickle pulling. 


--
"farmer"

I try to take one day at a time but sometimes several days attack
me at once.   :-) 


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net


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