Aluminum / aluminum mandrel cap rivets

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Skiffing

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I've read a few posts here talking about aluminum rivets loosening up. The 3/16" rivets I've been using are a bear to snap. I need two hands and leverage to set them.

Anyway, I bought some new 3/16 al/al cap rivets from another vendor. They are much softer. I can snap them with one hand.

If you're interested check out Gesipa brand al/al rivets. These things are tough.
 
I agree - some brands are a PAIN to snap.
I looked at the Gesipa brand on e-bay and the price is okay.
Their tools on the other hand are out of sight on price !!
They also make plastic pop rivets (didn't know there was such a thing).

When I was in the Navy a long time ago, I worked around the aircraft repair facility
and at the end of the day, all the rivet mandrels were swept up and tossed in the trash.
Along with good rivets that were dropped. Over a two year period, I was able to collect a 5 gallon bucket
full of assorted aircraft grade aluminum and stainless pop rivets. Still have half of it left.
most are 3/16" in different lengths. the 1/4" are gone, so now I have to buy them.
But they all pop rather quickly and very clean. I just wish I knew the brand name.
 
Typical rivet guns are a PITA to pop 3/16" rivets.

I like this one from Harbor Freight, as its design makes 3/16 rivets a real easy task. Also, it can do 1/4" rivets with ease.

Screen Shot 2015-04-29 at 9.03.53 AM.png
 
PSG-1 said:
Typical rivet guns are a PITA to pop 3/16" rivets.

I like this one from Harbor Freight, as its design makes 3/16 rivets a real easy task. Also, it can do 1/4" rivets with ease.

I have this rivet tool it's great. I haven't tried 1/4" rivets yet but the 3/16" are a piece of cake.
 
Another endorsement for the HF gun. I've used it for 1/4" closed end rivets - bang, they are set.
 
Are you sure the difficult ones aren't steel mandrels in an aluminum rivet? Depending on the source you can buy them that way so that you get a tighter grip.

I used 3/16 aluminum rivets with the steel mandrel which required a lot more force than the cheapie aluminum/aluminum ones i could get form the local hardware store. They were the ones I used originally to make my trolling motor bracket and the rivets eventually sheered off due to vibration in transit (despite all the tax money we pay in CT none of it seems to find its way into repairing roads). I had to go back through and replace them with stainless rivets which prevented this from happening again (thus far).
 
^^^

I'm sure.

The gesipa are not shiny aluminum. They have a dull oxidized appearance. After I posted this I looked up their specs and they don't seem much different: 260# shear / 320# tensile for 3/16.

They do snap hard though.

$18 / 100 on ebay. Search "geispa" globalparts is the seller - and misspelled the title
 
I used aluminum body/aluminum mandrel on my build and haven't had a single rivet come loose in almost 2 years. I have had some rivet heads break off on my bow deck, but those were the factory Tracker ones installed in '96. I used them on my extended bow deck, my hatch lids and to secure my aluminum sheet floor to the hull of my boat. And we are hard on my boat, especially during duck season. They were somewhat of a pain using your standard rivet setting tool, especially when setting a bunch at a time. Now mine were closed end as opposed to the standard open end blind rivets, so maybe that makes them stronger? I really don't know. But I've had zero issues with mine. I've used the open ended aluminum rivets you can find at Home Depot and Lowe's for other projects because I didn't need 100 at a time. Might just be in my head, but they didn't seem nearly as strong as the ones I used for my boat.

Here is what I used and where I got them from.
https://rivetsonline.com/closed-end-blind-rivet-pr66aaph.html
 
onthewater102 said:
They were the ones I used originally to make my trolling motor bracket and the rivets eventually sheered off due to vibration in transit (despite all the tax money we pay in CT none of it seems to find its way into repairing roads).

It's not much different in SC. Our potholes look like craters caused by IED's or land mines. And despite all the revenue from license plates, fines, property tax, and the already existing gas tax, they are talking about raising our gas tax another 10 cents a gallon. Somehow I suspect even if they do, our roads will still be in horrible shape, as our government is nothing but a bunch of pocket-lining, money-wasting parasites.

Sorry for the rant! :mrgreen:
 
Your "geispa" rivets have aluminum mandrels according to the ebay listing...dunno why they're hard to snap - probably not much of a notch in the mandrel. Steel mandrels will still be MUCH harder, but you get a tighter seal for it.
 
Yup. Mandrels are aluminum.

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Gesipa on the right. You can see the color difference.

Shorter grip, more pronounced dome head mandrel a little longer - otherwise they mic with 0.002 of each other.

I'm going to cut a couple apart. There may be a difference in the mandrel termination and how is expands the body.
 

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