Wanted: Bren carrier rivets

[maple_leaf_eh]

Didn't someone post a lesson in how to rivet a carrier? I recall the tricks was heat the blank rivet to a certain colour, then two men with the riveting tool and the backing tool did a sort of dance with tongs and hammers. Whoever wrote the story made it seem "effortless" but very tiring. The fellow said he tried using a C-clamp tool, but I forget whether it worked or not.

[jeff davis]

I Talked to a blacksmith and did this
Clamp armour put rivit though hole heat with torch smash end with hammer or air chisel with appropriate shaped head . Worked great

[RichardT10829]

Drill and prep all holes first,,,, bolt the plate on and check alignment, remove every other bolt and replace with a rivet... Allow to cool and repeat with the remaining bolts. Problem with using clamps is they vibrate loose and you end up with slack rivets or miss alignment issues, fine if your doing maybe one rivet, but not say an entire side plate on a carrier.

http://youtu.be/NKBXa9PaSZM

I have done a couple

[Lynn Eades]

I have done almost the entire carrier

[rob love]

The real trick that I have found is to get the right rivet gun. I recently did all the upper armour rivets on the 2PPCLI carrier here in Shilo. I bought a rivet gun at a farm auction a couple years ago and it turned out to be a 9X gun. I think those little cheapies you buy from Princess auto run around 2X or 3X.

The 9X will actually do the 1/4 or 5/16 rivets cold. For the 3/8 rivets, I bolt the armour on to start with, and remove one bolt at a time. I insert the rivet, and have a helper hold the rivet with a large bar on the inside of the carrier. Almost all the rivets go from inside to outside, with the exception of the rear rivets which go from outside to inside.

The large bucking bar is a 20" long piece of 2" round-stock with holes in it to match the dome of the new rivet. While the helper is holding it tight against the armour, I heat the rivet with a oxy-acetylene torch until it is red. I pass the torch off to the helper to hold, and hit the rivet with the 9x air hammer. They dome in about 8 hits, and it's done. If it is not quite perfect, then I'll heat it again, but in the single try, I get about 85% of them done.

I did the entire upper armour in less than two days and more likely closer to one. I think I had to remove maybe 3 rivets and do them a second time.

Some of the rivets at the division plate had to have the insides hammered flat due to interference with the rivet situated 90° from it.

My 9x gun uses the larger .498 bits, and some of the curved ones will break on you. I bought all those online from one of the aircraft suppliers, and they worked great.

This is the third or fourth carrier I have done, and by far the easiest. I'll credit the gun for the success.

[Bob Carriere]

Ottawa store, under instructions from head office Canada WILL NO longer sell you retail cash unless you have a company hame and CRS /Prov. Tax number. no amount of pleading works.
Individual collectors are not an important enough business for them.

NOW using First Call Automotive bolts supply (small local owner onsite ottawa based) who will order and obtain any of the old style slotted machine screws, four sided nuts form suppliers like PAPCO, Spaneour...... and get this at a lower overall retail price than Fastenal.

Bob C

[jeff davis]

Went to Maple Ridge store here in BC and same story .
Bunch of s...heads
Regards
Jeff