#Buck rivet drill free

When we are removing rivets, we have two goals. The first is quite obvious: to remove the rivet from the aluminum sheet. The second is less obvious: to do as little damage to the aluminum sheet as possible. We destroy rivets in the de-riveting process but, more often than not, we will be reusing the aluminum sheet. That means that we don’t want to scratch the exterior and (arguably more important) we don’t want to enlarge the rivet holes beyond their current size. Larger holes require larger rivets to be properly resealed. So, using the right sized bits can be critical! Large drill bit Removal Keeping each hole consistent will minimize complications. We approach rivet removal as a three step process. See how the collar around the rivet removal tool wraps around the rivet head and centers the interior drill bit.įirst, we use the rivet removal tool to form a dimple in the center of the rivet. The dimple doesn’t have to be very deep, just enough to guide the drill bits. Once we have the dimple drilled, we switch to the first drill bit. We are using a 7/64″ drill bit because that is smaller than the 1/8″ shaft of the rivet. You can use other sizes, but the goal is to pick a bit narrower than the rivet shaft. Use the dimple as a guide to drill through the body of the rivet. You don’t have to drill all the way through the rivet, just through the mushroom shaped head, into the level of the sheet aluminum. Technically, we could use the rivet removal tool to do this. But we prefer the small drill bit because it allows us to better see what we are doing.įinally, we switch to the second drill bit. We are using a 5/32″ titanium coated drill bit. This drill bit is wider than the shaft of the rivet. Drill into the same hole but, this time, you should not need to drill very much at all for the rivet head to pop free.ĭo not drill into the aluminum sheet itself. If the rivet head is resistant and won’t pop off, try stepping back down to the smaller drill bit and make sure you have drilled deeply enough and then return to the larger drill bit.

#Buck rivet drill free

If that still does not free the rivet head, step to an even larger drill bit and see if it can free the rivet still without damaging the aluminum sheet. The standard rivets we use are 1/8″ brazier head buck rivets. This is a fairly standard rivet and used on Airstreams as well. When I am riveting old holes where we removed the original rivets and are now replacing them, I size up to 5/32″ diameter rivets. This would generally look odd, since the heads are usually larger than the 1/8″ rivets. Fortunately, Vintage Trailer Supply produces a 5/32″ rivet with a head that matches the 1/8″. The question of length really depends on how thick a piece of aluminum and how many sheets you are riveting through. I have 1/4″, 3/8″, and 1/2″ long rivets that I work with. If I’m riveting aluminum sheet to extruded aluminum, I may need to size up to 3/8″. And there are rare occasions, such as when I’m riveting the thick curved flair that wraps around the “ultra” on the side of our Avion that I need the 1/2″ long rivets. I am considering pop rivets for the interior walls. That’s what was holding our original walls in place. But I want to do a bit of experimenting with olympic rivets first.

I’m sure there are people who have tackled this in many different ways.