I have both the standard size hand riveter and the pneumatic. There is
a time and place for both.
Once upon a time I worked on a contract on the Army National Training
Center at Ft. Irwin (war gaming.) I ordered a pneumatic "pop" rivet
gun. My boss commented he uses a hand pop rivet tool at home and didn't
see why my team couldn't manage. I pointed out line item 2 which was
several thousand rivets.
I concur with the one hand comments. You might need a hand to hold
things in place to rivet them or you might need a hand to use for your
safety. However, there may be times when compressed air is not
conveniently available and the rivets are large and a bit of a challenge
for the little hand tool. I will probably be adding one of these larger
tools to my hoard.
Patrick NJ5G
On 8/10/2014 1:24 PM, Larry K4AB wrote:
I'm in the process of assembling the new Force 12 Delta-II-6BA.
I agree with Chip K7JA, that the hand rivet tool is very difficult for
popping the rivets. Bear in mind that I am no large, athletic guy,
but I'm no little old lady either. The hand riviter is tough to use.
I prefer a simple pneumatic riviter that can be bought for around
$50. The advantage of the pneumatic tool is that you can use
one of your hands to steady the element, and the opposite hand
to "pop" the rivet. The dual-hand riviter that Chip recommends
requires use of both of your hands, making it quite cumbersome.
Of course the pneumatic tool uses an air compressor, which a lot
of folks may already have. If not, a simple "pancake" compressor
which can deliver 90-100 PSI is sufficent and inexpensive.
The pneumatic rivet tool is the only way to fly!
As an aside, the new 6BA looks like an fine piece of workmanship.
The new open-air 40 meter loading coils are LARGE, and seem, at
first glance, to appear vastly superior to the previous versions.
Congratulations to AA7XT, G0KSC, K7JA, XE2K and the team,
and of course N6BT.
Once it gets up and installed, I'll give you an overall assessment and
post some pictures online.
73,
Larry K4AB
On 8/8/14, Chip Margelli <chip@force12inc.com> wrote:
Hello to all.
We've come across a very nice tool for inserting rivets beyond the "small"
1/8" rivets used on smaller elements.
Harbor Freight has an item called the Pittsburgh 18" Heavy Duty Hand
Riveter that sells for all of $19.95. It makes work with 3/16" rivets
effortless, and even a 1/4" rivet does not require major exertion. Trying
to do either of these sizes with a hand pop rivet gun will lead to serious
frustration. The Harbor Freight SKU is 66422, and most HF stores have these
in stock, it seems.
http://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty-17-1-2-half-inch-hand-riveter-with-collection-bottle-
66422.html
This tool is especially useful when pulling rivets on larger elements, or
on element-to-boom clamping plates, for beams from various manufacturers,
not just Force 12. And it is much cheaper and less bulky than a pneumatic
rivet gun.
It even comes with a Collection Bottle, important for installers above the
age of 55.
73,
Chip K7JA
Force 12InnovAntennas America
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