? Electric Pop Rivet Gun Options

About to begin building my kit far away from my home base and shop. Compressed air is not an option here and the notion of popping all those rivets by hand is not appealing.

There are a number of electric pop rivet drill/guns available but I noted that Zenith modifies the tips on the manual and pneumatic tools they offer.

I did not find a battery operated tool offered by Zenith and wanted to ask the Zenith Builder's group if anyone has successfully modified the tip that comes with the battery operated gun to work as Zenith intended? If yes, which gun and what steps did you take to accomplish the task?

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Don Morrisey on October 31, 2020 at 9:35am

Are you sure the Zenith tip (which just screws in to the tip of the gun) wouldn't fit the electric gun?  I know my Zenith tips were interchangeable between my pneumatic gun and also the hand pullers.  The electric gun I looked at seems to have the same screw in tip...

https://www.amazon.com/Girapow-Cordless-Automatic-Brushless-Stainle...

Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on October 31, 2020 at 12:51pm
Don, I considered asking that as part of my question but thought it might be too much to hope for given all the variations in thread pitch and taper. That would be the easy solution and I will definitely check it before modifying anything. Thanks for the lead.
Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on November 22, 2020 at 1:26pm

Don, 

The Grapow looked like it might be a close match. I purchased it and found that the diameter is the same but the pitch is slightly different. Couple of options to remedy.  Grind the Grapow tips to match or retap the Grapow teceiver to accept the Zenith tips. I'll report back after I get back from a visit home and my shop after the Thanksgiving holiday.  

Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on November 30, 2020 at 7:35am

Don,

I ground, shaped and polished the tips that came with the Grapow gun. There was plenty of material and the metal was hardened. I ground the tips with a carbide ball burr and polished them with a small Cratex disc. 

Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on December 7, 2020 at 1:18pm

Pics of the results. The hand riveter is Zenith factory and the gun is my modifications.  I also polished the tips for the hand riveter while I was at it. 

Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Keith Thomas on October 31, 2020 at 12:52pm

I have the Milwaukee electric gun, the air gun tips do not fit, but Zenith does sell the tips to fit the milwaukee gun.

Permalink Reply by John Austin on October 31, 2020 at 12:13pm

One of our members, Dan Hill, has an excellent video on how to machine your own rivet gun tips.  It is located here. I would think any electric rivet gun could be modified as long as it has interchangeable/removeable tips.

John

N750A 

Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on October 31, 2020 at 12:55pm
Thanks John. I will need Dan's method if the tips will not interchange between hand popper and gun.
Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on November 22, 2020 at 1:47pm

Thanks John. The tips do not interchange.  So I'll be using Dan's method to profile the tips on my electric puller. Good info.

Permalink Reply by Mike Chapman on October 31, 2020 at 1:48pm

Check out this thread on the Milwaukee Cordless rivet tool.

This nose pieces were not interchangeable between the Milwaukee M-12 tool and the hand riveter.

Mike

Permalink Reply by Stephen Bradley on November 1, 2020 at 5:15am

You can’t machine the Milwaukee nose pieces for their cordless rivet gun as it has a cavity beneath the surface that you will machine into.

I found some nose pieces from a cheap scissor handle rivet gun that fit the Milwaukee gun and machined those.

Its been working well for me.

Permalink Reply by Mike Chapman on November 1, 2020 at 3:32pm

Stephen-

I believe that issue would only happen if the nose piece was machined too deeply.  I have machined six Milwaukee-branded nose pieces without any issue.  The enlarged image shows one of the nose pieces after machining...but before removing the ball and retaining o-ring.

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