Makeshift rivet press

C

CDH

Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
283
I was looking at my already cluttered workbench as I pondered my latest failure setting rivets...and I wondered if a rivet press was worth the money and space. Then lo and behold I get a brain flash: I have a press, it just needs dies. I have a nice big heavy 'O' frame reloading press already bolted to the bench.

Has anyone ever tried this? I have a contact who can machine them for me. This would require at least 2 sets, one for the flaring hollow kydex type rivets and one for the cutlery type cutlery rivets. I feel certain the press can handle the stress if the dies can be machined to a good enough tolerance...

Good idea or not, and why? It sure has to beat using a hammer and anvil or a bench vise...and needing 4 hands to hold everything straight and still mucking it up half the time.:grumpy:
 
Thanks for the thought.

All the dies I have seen at places like knifekits, TexasKnife, Jantz, etc. are specifically for use with a particular brand of press. That means several hundred dollars worth of dies and press, plus the storage requirement...where would I put the thing? What I am proposing is to use a reloading press for the same purpose, and by my eye that would require a adapters or completely reground dies. Since both would have to be custom made, I'm choosing custom ground dies.

I have little room and less budget for a dedicated rivet press that might get used 5-10 times a year. We'll see how this goes, my buddy says he should get them to the top of his project queue in a couple of weeks.
 
My guess is that the dies probably fit on a standard arbor press. I suppose that you could chuck one die in a drill press and put the other one in a drill press vise, line them up and you're in bussiness.

I use a 2 ton arbor press to form kydex. I use it instead of a vise. To keep the pressure on the foam covered blocks, I jamb a piece of coat hanger of wire in the gear rack so it doesn't move back up. That way I can go and drink some coffee while it cools.

I haven't gotten any of the dies from Knife Kits. Like you, I want would try to adapt them to my arbor press.

When I set my kydex eyelets, I tape the halves together. For the anvil, I use a end grain of a maple block (eastern hard). The maple is hard enough, but also gives enough so you don't damage the part of the rivet/eyelet it contacts.

As I set the rivet/eyelet, I use light hammer strokes. I think you want to gradually deform the metal so it doesn't split as much. Rotate your kydex ever few hammer strokes. With my bad hammering skills, I can never get the perfect 90 degree hit in 3 dimensions. Turning the kydex seems to make them peen over more evenly. I also rotate my punch independantly of the rivet/eyelet just incase there is any uneveness on the punch face.

As a finishing touch, I put some black nail polish on the rivet/eyelet where the black coating has gotten rubbed off during the peening process.

I usually use some Armor All on the kydex when I'm all done. It evens out the color (a.k.a. removes my greasy finger prints).


Let us know how things work out using your reloading press. I'm sure there's alot of makers out there who have one!

Ric
 
CDH said:
I was looking at my already cluttered workbench as I pondered my latest failure setting rivets...and I wondered if a rivet press was worth the money and space. Then lo and behold I get a brain flash: I have a press, it just needs dies. I have a nice big heavy 'O' frame reloading press already bolted to the bench.

Has anyone ever tried this? I have a contact who can machine them for me. This would require at least 2 sets, one for the flaring hollow kydex type rivets and one for the cutlery type cutlery rivets. I feel certain the press can handle the stress if the dies can be machined to a good enough tolerance...

Good idea or not, and why? It sure has to beat using a hammer and anvil or a bench vise...and needing 4 hands to hold everything straight and still mucking it up half the time.:grumpy:
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea. Something I would be interested in. The only problems I could see would be that the ram moves up with the material, instead of down to the material. That movement might make it difficult to keep things together, might not though. The other problem I forsee would be with my press. It's a large O-frame. That front part might get in the way. Now you could do this with one of the various C presses and that would probably work great. I would be interested in a set if you do anything with it.

Thanks,

Charles
 
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