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Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on November 22, 2020 at 1:52pm

Mike, the Grapow gun listed above from Amazon is a full cycle gun that pulls, pops and then resets automatically. Dropping the stem. No need to reverse the gun. Seems a good value for $149. 

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Permalink Reply by Mike Chapman on November 22, 2020 at 10:54pm

The Girapow Cordless rivet gun is available at an attractive price point.  It seems like a good deal; but, there are a couple things I took into consideration:

1. The Girapow brand is not familiar to me.  I am not being critical of the tool...I just prefer tools from a company that has an established reputation.
2. The length from the tip of the nose piece to the back end of the motor housing is significantly longer than that of the Milwaukee tool...or most of the pneumatic rivet pullers.  That is especially true if you remove the stem catcher from the Milwaukee rivet gun.  Note:  This consideration applies to the Astro (and similar) adapters that are used on cordless drills.  There are some places where that extra length will make it more difficult to pull the rivets.

I hope the Girapow tool is a great success and that we get to hear more about it as the Zenith builders put them to the test.

Mike

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Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on November 2, 2020 at 10:17am

Thanks Edward. Was there a link to the Astro blind rivet adapter?

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Hoyt on November 2, 2020 at 1:54pm

Don't discount doing it by hand.  It's not difficult, and in the overall scheme of things it won't cost you much time.  The only reason to NOT pull them by hand IMHO is if you have a medical condition with your hand or forearm.

I pulled every rivet on N63PZ by hand, using the hand riveter supplied in the Zenith toolkit.  The results I obtained when done by hand are superior to the results from the either of the hydraulic & pneumatic rivet guns that I also owned.

- Pat

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Permalink Reply by David L. Smith on November 2, 2020 at 2:32pm

I'm trying to avoid developing hand, wrist or forearm issues though quality of build is also an important consideration. Thanks for the input Pat. I will have to weigh the possible risk against the reward.

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Permalink Reply by Larry Zepp on November 2, 2020 at 7:44pm

Hi David, You can modify the nose piece of any standard rivet gun to the Zenith system. Order a 5/16 "dia  (first choice) or 3/8"ball cutter with a 1/4"shaft often used in die grinders. If you want a good one that doesn't dull after several airplanes, order carbide. The spiral flutes should make a smooth cut - not too aggressive. Set up the ball cutter in the chuck of a drill press and hold the nose piece for the size rivet you want in the drill press vise.

Use calipers or a scale to measure the diameter of the rivet flange- either 1/8"or 5/32". You want the conical depression to end up the same diameter as the rivet. Make one for each size. Then go try a couple of rivets and adjust if necessary. This also adds the recess to the angled rivet setters for tight spots. I have done this to 4 different riveters and it works the same as the Zenith one. Larry Zepp, Zenith Zodiac N22LZ - getting close.

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