[AT] Thanks!

[Mike Sloane]

One of the advantages of the rivet spinner tool is that you can change 
the section(s) out (in the shop or in the field) without removing the 
bar from the mower, you don't need a hammer, chisel, special punch, or 
supporting block - just a box wrench to  run the two tools down. One 
tool punches out the old rivet, and the second one supplies the pressure 
to set the section securely in place against the bar, then puts pressure 
on the rivet to enlarge it, and finally round the end to produce an even 
surface that won't catch on anything. As they say in the ads: "try it, 
you'll like it".

Mike

Indiana Robinson wrote:

> I mostly just change sections with the sickle still in the mower. I
> have an old king-pin that I ground flats on the sides at one end so it
> fits up between the guards. It sits on a heavy oak block with the
> ground flat end up with the weight of the mower bar sitting on it. It
> has a shallow dimple in that end that centers on the rivet head and
> holds it solidly up in the bar. I give the rivet a solid whack with a
> hammer while being sure that the section stays down flat. That whack
> swells the body of the rivet  which tightens it solidly in the holes
> of both parts. After I have both rivets done like that I then flip the
> hammer over and peen it down some then I use a regular rivet set to
> finish the head of the rivet.
> -
> Removal of the old section if it is still attached is as simple as
> popping the rivet heads off with a sharp cold chisel and tapping the
> old rivets out with a small drift punch.
> -
> I can change a section and be mowing again in the time it usually
> requires to pull the sickle out of the mower.
> -
> BTW, I do not consider it sufficient to just form a head on the
> rivets. Unless you swell the shank of the rivet in the holes so that
> there can be no movement at all the section can loosen with use.