Tell me about your favorite riveters.

[thesignlady]

I have a 74 argosy 22' and a 69 Safari 23' I would like to do it right and purchase a quality rivet gun. Please tell me your experiences with yours. What you liked and what you didn't, was it hard on your hands or easy to use, heavy or light etc....I'm one of those gals that would like to do it right the first time and purchase one or two tools that will work well for the whole trailer not have eight half a** tools kicking around instead. Is there such a tool out there that you have found and liked that I would be able to purchase off the shelf somewhere and not have to pay duty and shipping to Canada?
Thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge base, you are all awesome!

[featherbedder]

I use Marson Klik Fast model HP-2, it has 4 interchangeable heads that simply screw in by fingers no tool required to change for dif. size pop rivets, they are cast aluminum body very easy to use, also I use them on olympic rivets. These are not cheepy prest riveters. I have had mine since mid 70s still good as new have used on many repair jobs other than AS. Zip=Dee awning co. uses them in there installations I don't no the model # they use but same as mine only handles a tad longer They are also light and not hard on fingers or hands Sears sell them but maybe able to find better price elsewhere. If you google marson klik fast riveters you will see images of them and also some sellers

[Farmer Dan]

I recommend the Marson as well. I asked the guys at Fastenal what was the best tool and they said Marson. It will do stainless steel rivets as well as aluminum. The cheaper tools wouldn't grip the SS firmly enough to pop them off.
Dan

[Aerowood]

What kind of rivet gun? Buck rivets or for blind rivets?

[68 TWind]

I bought a pneumatic rivet gun for "pop" rivets from Harbor Freight -
(3/16" Air Hydraulic Riveter)
It was a real time and "hand" saver when I installed hundreds of rivets while putting the interior back in my Trade Wind.

[aquinob]

Originally Posted by 68 TWind

I bought a pneumatic rivet gun for "pop" rivets from Harbor Freight -
(3/16" Air Hydraulic Riveter)
It was a real time and "hand" saver when I installed hundreds of rivets while putting the interior back in my Trade Wind.

I have one of those pneumatic riveters as well. It will pop 1/8 and 3/16" rivets all day long, but if you get into any of the larger sizes, it may start to jam on the shanks or not cleanly pop out the shank. For me its fine, it wasnt that expensive a tool and it has saved quite a bit of time and aggravation, especially using a hand riveter. I'm sure there are much more expensive tools, but for my usage, this one does just fine. YMMV

[Belegedhel]

For bucked rivets, I bought the "kit" from Vintage Trailer Supply, and have been very satisfied with it.

For pop/blind rivets, any manual tool will likely wear you out if you have very many rivets to install. I bought the cheapy Harbor Freight pneumatic model, and was satisfied with it as well, until a miserable plastic seal (that is one of the only seals that they don't provide a replacement for) gave out. Well, I bought another one, cause they are cheap, and I don't really want my Airstream specific trailer tools to last for more than one restoration, as I might be tempted to start another one.

My advice, unless you are thinking of going into business, don't over-research it.

[thesignlady]

Hi Aerowood, I honestly didn't know the difference between a buck and blind so I did a Google search and found this past post. I (hopefully) do not plan to do a interior gutting on either of my trailers so I think I would be going with blind rivets. Here is the post I found for any others that don't know either. Hopefully the pictures in her thread come through in my copy paste....

If it's your call and they'll fix it however you tell them to...go with the bucked rivets! Although the Olympics are "acceptable" the bucked rivets are definately better.

One of the pitfalls of polishing our trailer is it was difficult to get a clear picture of the rivets...the camera would focus on the reflected image...not the rivet! 

Here's the best I could do (I know, they're dirty!), hopefully this will help:

Top Row:
Left: Good shaved Olympic Rivet
Right: Bad Olympic Rivet (stem broke off)

Bottom Row, Left to Right:
1) head of bucked (original) rivet
2) back of bucked rivet
3) reflection of bucked rivet
4) pop rivet with Zolotone on it

Shari 

[thesignlady]

Pics didn't come through, here is the link to the thread from '03

http://www.airforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6368