? about rivets

[saulgoode]

I was at at stop light today next to a greyhound bus, and noticed the metal work done in stainless. The edges look to be riveted, the tops of the rivets where completely smooth and domed if that makes sense. There was also a section that looked to be repaired using conventional pop rivets. I googled and couldn't find anything but pop rivets, do these domed ones require a special machine to press them.

Thanks,
Cody

[hardtailjohn]

Most likely what you were looking at were "huck lockbolts". They have a collar that is swaged on the backside with a "puller" and they're very very strong!
John H.

[roger n cindy]

were restoring (actually refurbishing to our own taste) a 1957 airstream bubble. we use a rivet that installs with a pop rivet gun but finishes off smooth and domed like the original rivets in the airstream. we like the looks of the riveted finish and the bubble is the old style body with 13 panels making up the top. the factory bucks the rivets, one man on each side with an air riveting tool and a dolly. we have about 2600 rivets to install !
roger n cindy

[hardtailjohn]

Roger and Cindy,
In all, you'd be surprised at how fast that would go, if you were using the original style rivets... it sounds like a big deal until you start, then the next thing ya know, you've got it done!
John H.

[wtowns01]

I use to do a little work on semi trailers. Replaced quite a few side skins, all riveted. They used aluminum rivets --- aluminum panels and posts. My job was to hold the dolly on the inside of the trailer. If the guy running the air hammer was any good we could just about rivet the whole side of the trailer in one day, once everything was aligned and set up. I wore ear plugs and ear muffs to help with the noise and still too noisy. I also had to wear a welding glove on the dolly hand to keep out some of the vibration. They didn't have those gel gloves back then, sure wish they did.

[Kevin]

I read in roger n cindys message "rivet that installs with a pop rivet gun but finishes off smooth and domed like the original rivets "
Who sells rivets like this?

Kevin

[roger n cindy]

hello Kevin. we use olympic rivets from www.inlandrv.com look on page one under parts. we learned a lot by joining the forums at www.airstreamforums.com. do a search there on rivets. with all my internet research i'm up to 1 1/2 hours each morning staying current.

roger