I'm looking to buy a pneumatic rivet gun instead of my little squeezey one due to the amount of rivets I foresee doing. What amount of pulling force should I be looking for? I'll be using everything from aluminum to stainless rivets in the 1/8 - 1/4 range I believe. The ones I've seen range from 1000lb. to just short of 10,000lb. I'm not sure how much force a stainless rivet requires to seat. I looked at the Harbor Freight ones and they sort of scare me as far as durability. What brands do others here have and to what success of reliability. I have no problem paying for a decent one if need be.
Bruce
Look up,, Big daddy rivet gun,,,, The handles on it are about 2 feet long. I have done will over 3000!! The bad is some times when rivet pops the riveter bangs on the side of bus.
FYI, I bought the harbor freight air riveter and it built my entire bus :)
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I should add, but then it died
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I have HF one. The Prevost rivet size is 3/16th stainless steel. You must not over pressure it! Blows O-rings quick. Still ticking after 3 yrs and several thousand. FWIW Bob
I'm on my second HF gun, the first one lasted long enough to do 1 7/8" of my re-skin. I only had about 60 rivets to go on my last panel before one of the jaws inside the nose broke. I couldn't find replacement parts for it, so I bought another gun to finish the job. The rivets were 1/4" structural the HF gun is the only inexpensive gun I could find that had 1/4" capacity. I think the second cheapest gun I could find was over $500 at the time.
You guys that say your HF pneumatic air riveter failed on you, did you put a couple of drops of pneumatic oil in the air connection each time you used it? I've had mine for 14-15 years and it works like it always has-- once in while the used rivet nail gets stuck and I have to unscrew the end apart to get the jammed nail out. But that has been my only problem.
--Geoff
I have an expensive Huck gun. It quit. Bought a cheap HF and it keeps on tickin'. Go figure.
As time went on I had to do more tinkering with my HF gun but is still going. For the price buy two. LOL
John
I used the HF on my reskin, over 1000 rivets. The only problem I've had is the plastic nail catcher broker, probably my fault.I used structural steel rivets. Once in a while I would have to bleed off some air so the compressor would build back up to 120 again.
Thanks for the input. Right now I'm looking at one made by the POP Emhart Stanley Company. What's confusing me now is they sell a tip made specifically for the Monobolts. All the guns I've seen have the different size tips for the shanks but this is the only company that lists a tip for the Monobolts. I hate buying a potentially poor quality tool, i.e. Harbor Freight, and not having it work well. The Harbor Freight gun right now is $70. If I end up buying two, that's $140. I think I'll buy this POP model which costs a little more than two HF guns and it's made in America.
Bruce
Quote from: PRZNBUS on June 02, 2015, 05:03:37 AM
Thanks for the input. Right now I'm looking at one made by the POP Emhart Stanley Company. What's confusing me now is they sell a tip made specifically for the Monobolts. All the guns I've seen have the different size tips for the shanks but this is the only company that lists a tip for the Monobolts. I hate buying a potentially poor quality tool, i.e. Harbor Freight, and not having it work well. The Harbor Freight gun right now is $70. If I end up buying two, that's $140. I think I'll buy this POP model which costs a little more than two HF guns and it's made in America.
Bruce
Quality tools are a good investment in a happy life. If that tool really fits your needs, buy it and don't look back.
You need to change the jaws every time you go from a smooth shank rivet to a mono bolt,any gun will pull mono bolts with mono bolt pulling jaws.I have 3 sets of jaws for mine I figured out what 2 sets were for after digging the mono bolt shank out but not the 3rd set.I would love to have a cordless PowerBird but to rich for me
Ask Gary @ B&B in Vegas, he has installed thousands of rivets, he uses HR guns and runs them untill they die and buys more.
Well, I bought the lightly used but guaranteed commercial grade POP PRG540. New it's around $900 but I got mine for $200. Not much more than two HF guns. Here's hoping I didn't make a mistake. I like buying quality tools when I can afford them. Again, thanks for the input.
Bruce
I bought a craftsman. It is made made in China but it did pull all the rivets on our bus and is still working.
When you buy anything at HF keep the receipt and if it breaks to include the cheap plastic on the multi meter leads. I take it back and most times they give me a new one.
Dave