Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dave Gardea on March 24, 2009 at 6:04pm

I went to Harbor Freight early on when I was investing in tools for the project. I bought this at HF: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93458
It has worked well ever since. I also polish the rivet head/cap on to ensure a smooth surface for the rivet head. With this rivet gun I shoot the A4's at about 50-60 psi and the A5's at 60-65psi. I have not experienced any bounce with this gun. I use regular air tool oil .. a couple drops in the air inlet every day or so of riveting.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dr. Edward L. Olds III on March 24, 2009 at 6:14pm

Dave,

As you will see in the pictures I just loaded, that is exactly the gun they sent to me, only mine is red and black.

Ed

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave Gardea on March 24, 2009 at 6:24pm

Ed,

I looked at your pic of the box .. yup, it looks very similar. Mine doesn't have any fine adjustment valve on the gun, though. I would assume the adjustment valve on the gun is for air pressure. You are correct that this gun doesn't have quite the recoil as the one's in the rudder class .. I see that as a good thing. I encourage you to drill lots of holes in scrap to test many A4 and A5 rivets to get the feel of the gun and adjusting the air regulator on your compressor.

Dave

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Grant Arthur on March 24, 2009 at 6:37pm

I was wondering how you have modified the tip for the avex rivets?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dr. Edward L. Olds III on March 24, 2009 at 7:10pm

Grant,

Zenith sells a complete tool kit and that is what I purchased. The kit includes the rivet gun, with specially ground tips. If you contact Zenith, I would hope they would sell you some?

Ed

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dr. Edward L. Olds III on March 24, 2009 at 7:07pm

Dave,

Thanks for the info and the advice. I've been practicing and will continue.

Ed

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mark Gravatt on May 25, 2015 at 12:00am

Dave I am just starting and I bout the same rivet puller you suggested.  I am a machinist, turned manufacturing engineer and want to modify the nose for forming the dome heads for the rivets. Do you (or anyone else for that matter) know radius or depth required?  From this YouTube video, it looks like they use a common sized ball end mill in a lathe to form the concave indent.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FfdJPOM51A

Has anyone tried this eRiv tool from Avdel? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xIiiRRsFik

Looks like it could be pretty slick, but probably expensive.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ron Lendon on March 24, 2009 at 9:04pm

I set my pressure so it just pulls the rivet. 45psi for the A4 and 55psi for A5 seems to work for me. setting the pressure low allows time for the rivet to seat and it also gives me time to make that slight pull away from the work. When the stem breaks the gun is moving away from the part and leaves no dance marks on the plane.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dr. Edward L. Olds III on March 24, 2009 at 9:38pm

Ron,

What gun did you use? Did you use the "fine tune" valve supplied by Zenith?

Ed

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ron Lendon on March 25, 2009 at 9:17pm

Nah! I bought mine off E-Bay from vendor "great-tools", don't know the model number but it cost $50 in early 2006. I have a regulator/drier on the line, I set the pressure there.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dr. Edward L. Olds III on March 25, 2009 at 10:59pm

Ron,

Thanks, I'm going to start using the regulator on my compressor too.

Ed

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page