I am replacing the ventilation window lock plate which needs to be riveted to the frame. I have the old style rivet that Dennis Carpenter sent with the new piece. I don't know how to do the riveting. A pop-rivet won't work because the tolerance between the glass and the frame is too tight. Does anyone have any experience using a chisel and hammer to flatten out the rivet or is there a tool that I need for the job. Thanks.

 

Setting a rivet is a lost skill in these days of instant gratification, but it's not hard to do, you just need patience and a set of earplugs (unless you are the type that plays the soundsystem in their rides at a volume approaching a sonic boom) I assume it is a solid rivet with a flat head? First be sure the rivet fits the hole snugly. I can only assume it is already the correct length. Next gather your tools: a ballpeen hammer of about 12-16 oz weight, and a heavy flat steel block. Set yourself up a work spot where the steel block in on a solid surface at a height where you can sit comfortably facing the workpiece and it is slightly below elbow level when your arm is along your side in a relaxed position and you are a forearm and hammer handle length away from the rivet. The position is very important, you must be comfortable and not contorted to have the control and patience that will be needed next. place the work piece on the steel block with the head of the rivet flat on the surface and the end needing flairing is pointed up. Hold the hammer only as tightly as you would your sweetheart's hand, near the end of the handle with your index finger on top the handle pointed at the head. Keep your wrist, hand, and hammer stiff, your upper arm close to your side, and only swing from the elbow like it's the only hinged joint in your entire arm kinda like a mechanical robot. Swing is really not what you are going to do tho, you are only going to tap flat on the end of the rivet. There should not be much added force to the taps than just the weight of the hammer dropping due to gravity, and if you have set it up properly the hammer face should be perfectly parallel to the steel block face when it contacts the rivet end. This is where the patience comes in! You must at all costs avoid the urge to beat the rivet into submission, and continue tapping on it lightly for 15-20 taps. Stop and examine your progress. You should start to see the end of the rivet beginning to mushroom out. If you are hitting it flat on the end the rivet should still be parallel with the head. If it angles even slightly, adjust your position or rotate the piece 180* before starting again. Tap it another 20 times and check it again. by now the rivet end should have mushroomed enough that the rivet will not come out of the hole, but should still rotate freely in it, Repeat as many cycles as required to swell the end large enough to secure the parts permanently and there is no more up and down movement of the rivet. Done to perfection the hammered end of the rivet should look like the head end. If you just start wacking at it, the rivet may bend, swell in the hole rather than above it, or damage the piece. Many light taps will do more work than a few hard ones, you're setting rivets, not driving nails! To prove my point: MANY years ago when I was in Jr highschool and quarters were still real silver (yes, at one time they were solid silver, ask your grandparents!) a fad was started where you would tap around the edge of a quarter with the bowl of a tablespoon you swiped from the cafeteria, for hours on end and if you had enough patience and free time in a few days the diameter would be reduced to about the size of a nickle, but it would mushroom out to about a 1/4" wide! When it was reduced down to an appropriate diameter, the center of the quarter was drilled out and you were left with a silver band ring to give your "steady" a a token of your devotion to her that you would spend all that time and energy to make it for her (or to prove you still lacked a life or the money to buy a real ring...).

 

I liked the ring story more tha the rivet instruction. I,ll try that as soon as i come across a silver quarter.

 

We use to do the ring thing with just a standard quarter and the appropriate ''borrowed" spoon from the cafeteria back in high school.

That took a while, though.

The silvers, I kept at home.

Can you solder the vent handle shaft and vent frame shaft to the vent frame?

 

WOW what an explanation on riveting!! Great!! I also have my vent windows in pieces and will have to set the rivets so you did get my attention and what a great article, now if I can just keep from whacking the crap out of the rivets I should be good.
Don

 

If by chance there is something nearby that could be damaged by a misdirected hammer tap (tho you should not be hammering hard enough to do much damage) use a flat ended punch a little larger than the rivet end with the hammer, making sure to keep it square to the end of the rivet. If you are setting a round headed rivet drill or mill an appropriate sized dish in the steel block to set the head into. If you want a rounded end on the rivet, set as above first, then once the rivet is mushroomed enough to lock it in tap at a shallow angle around the edge until it has formed the shape you want. In our jewelry design business we have to make a lot of gold rivets from plain wire using the same methods. We consider a hammer to be a precision tool, you can do some very exacting work with one if you use it properly, and a lot of damage if you get impatient.