Richie's Mk1 Restoration

[Lynn Eades]

Here is what I have been using. My gun has a 1 1/16" dia. piston, with a 4 inch stroke. We have made up the various tools to get into the akward places in the carrier.

[RichardT10829]

Hahahaha we have started something here...with sharpie's slightly bigger than mine... where did you get the snaps. did your gun struggle or did it fire them in with ease ?

cheers

Richie

[Lynn Eades]

Without the benefit of trying others, I would guess it to be about the right size. I/ we have made up all the tooling (snaps) It will easily smear the rivetlike warm butter if not held square on. We made the long stuff so we could get into the corners without changing the angle too much. We certaintly need some mass on the back side of the plate. Experimentation is required as there are lots of variables.
We started with 12mm of rivet sticking out past the plate, and have upped it to 15mm(this makes it harder for the guy on the gun) this is for countersunk holes (like at the bottom of the hull side plate, to the floor.

My holes are two drill sizes bigger than 3/8". we grind a small bevel on each rivet.

I was hoping the two pens were similar. It is my gun that is bigger. (no other comments!)

[RichardT10829]

so did you just use a lathe to bore out the correct shape in the snap ?

[Ben]

When I spoke to the chap who did Shuans riveting, he said you can turn any shape you need but they need to be hardened otherwise the constant heat and hammering deforms them.

Ben

[RichardT10829]

so what steel would you recommend for the snap... ? high carbon i might go get a blank and turn one out... the snaps available for the gun i have only go up to 3/8 and i need 5/8. i did a cold test on a rivet tonight with the snap i have (3/8 brazier) and it was peening the rivet over all be it only slightly... this was with the compressor half charged and only 40 psi at the reg (so i was somewhat impressed) i should think it will squash a hot rivet ok.

[Lynn Eades]

I have used 4140. It work hardens. I used steel from broken shafts that were so hard, at the break, that a ceramic tip wouldnt put a mark on them.
I made mine on the lathe and finished them off with a die grinder. (my formal lathe training was mostly while the metalwork teacher wasn't looking at school)
The small one, with the handle was rolled into place behind the rivet head to do the ones going through the engine bed rails into the floor. (we are yet to do the second one) We have done them with the carrier on its side, introducing a dolly behind the handled thing.(on the outside of the bed rail)
If you are planning this operation, look for a friend who is an insect, or even better a spider. If you ask your wife, she might point you in the direction of one of her ex boyfriends.
Anyhow the point is, they need extra arms/hands etc.
We have cut the rivets to length for each set of rivets. I heat a rivet, pick it up with pliers, and poke it into the hole. My friend with the gun pulls it in while I position the dolly. I yell "ready" or "go" (this is optional. I'm sure Richard, that you will have some weird local alternative)
With that heavy dolly arrangement in the photo, I get it behind the rivet,get my knee behind my elbow, and my foot against the inside of the hull on the opposite side. It works good that way.
Try not to put rivets in the bolt holes for the bogie adjusting studs. They look good, but slows your progress down.