I'm taking a break from the beam engine as management requires that I finish the Brit tender that is sitting on the sideboard. My build log is on the MECH site, but I thought that some on here would like to see how I approach the often daunting task of rivetting.
This is the unfinished tender.
20190708_130820[1] by
inkaboat, on Flickr
This post is aimed at the odd newbie on here, so please don't be insulted at the nanny approach!
A lot of people don't like decorative rivetting of large areas, perhaps because of the danger of just one slip and the whole job is ruined, as could happen here. A lot of people resort to poking the rivets into the holes and relying on Loctite or Araldite to hold them, but that's not really cricket is it, and they never look really flush and properly in line! 😱
The trick, however, is to reduce the chances of those errors occurring by thinking about the setup. Waving a large tender around while trying to get the snap square to the job will just lead to grief! All the bits need to be held as steady as possible.
Here's how I've approached this job, and apart from a few slight marks where I'm getting old and doddery, it ain't too bad so far!
Set the snap in the vice vertically and because the tender is steel, I've set my magnetic welding helpers on the slide.
Make sure the snap is high enough so that you can see what you are doing underneath!
Level the snap on the helpers.
Insert each rivet one at a time from the other side, and insert into the snap head. The magnetic helpers will hold the whole tender body in the same place. Snip it off flush with some sharp snips, leave just a small amount proud. While still in place tap gently with a small flat head hammer. Very little force is needed to make a watertight connection!
I've placed about 50 rivets in about an hour. You can see that they are as neat as you would want, and they are not going to be seen anyway. Only another 175 to go!
A couple of wiggly ones, but I can deal with those. Once painted, they will all look just fine!
