Kydex rivet tool

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Wheelz87

Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
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Hi so I'm trying to make a kydex sheath and using 1/4 eyelets from usaknifemaker. They sell a die set for setting the rivers but it's almost 50 dollars. So as a frugal machinist I figured why not make my own. So I made these that look like I imagine theirs to be. However this is the result I get. The eyelet rolls over cleanly but tears at a couple spots around the circumference. I was wondering if anybody had any thoughts or ideas. Aside from stop being cheap and buy the die set of course.
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My best guess would be that the flaring area is too wide. The geometry is pretty touchy. I can shoot you a close up of my USAKnifemaker dies this weekend if that'll help.
 
Could be a few things

Kiah is spot on about the geometry 1st off.
If you are pressing more than a 100 or a 1000 eyelets the dies are a great investment.

Also you may look at these things

The eyelets can be hardened too much ( I have had this happen in a few bad batches of eyelets)
use a little oil
Steady pressure works better than quick and fast strikes.
Polished rolling area is best.
 
Yeah, I got a batch once that split every single time. Turned out that they had been ran too thin.
 
Wheelz87 said:
So I see a set of dies from knifekits.com as well. Any recommendations on which is better.
Click to expand...

In my experience, the ones from USAKnifemaker.

No disrespect to KK. Dealt with them a lot and not a bad word to say, but the ones from USAKnifemaker are just better dies IMO.
 
Ironically enough, I got my dies from USA Knifemaker and buy my eyelets from Knife Kits. That advice about a little oil on the dies is worth it's weight in gold. Helps the rolling process tremendously. Put some on the dies, let it sit awhile, wipe off the excess. Keep the dies clean. You'd be surprised if you looked at your dies with a jewelers loupe and saw all the shop dust and crud that gets on there. Even though it is miniscule, it all creates friction when that brass is trying to slide in the die and roll over uniformly.

Also, if you ever have the dies in a press, keep it closed when not in use. Keeps the dies cleaner and eliminates a lot of that dust and debris from getting into the contact points on the dies.
 
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