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Posted: 4/27/2009 2:06:27 PM EDT
| I am about to start my fourth build and I always dread getting the long rivets to look good when you smash them. Would it be a bad idea to heat up the rivet so its easier to shape them? I have never tried this, Im not 100% "edjibacated" in metals and if heating these will effect the integrity of them. |
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While waiting for an expert...
I've been thinking of this same thing and figuring there's one good shot at getting a redhot rivet correctly shaped before it cools and hardens. Knowing this(thinking I know this) I also wonder if it wont require a 'sleeve over' if you will, to keep the inside area from bulging? I was thinking a properly drilled out and split pair of sleeves on locking pliers would do the trick there. Hope somebody chimes in with anwers for you... |
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Quoted:
I am also not a metals expert but I believe that heating them will harden them. Hardening steel involves heating it to a certain temperature and then cooling it quickly ("quenching"). Heating steel and allowing it to cool slowly MAY anneal it, depending on the alloy used, how hard the steel was before it was heated and the temperature to which the steel is raised before it is allowed to cool. |
It takes practice, unless you got crappy tools then it doesn't matter  I've done a lot of rivets and still mess them up once and a while.
What brand rivets are you using? This might be the problem too? I used TAPCO rivets twice and didn't care for them, AK_Builder has nice rivets which several vendors also sell. |
| Heating up the rivets and slow cooling them will likely leave it an annealed state. However, this does depend on what alloy you use. (I dont know what alloy the rivets are). Deforming the rivet head causes work hardening and the head is now less ductile (brittle). If you heat the head, you reduce the amount of work hardening and you will have a more ductile head. I don't know if this will make a big difference or not but that is what is going on. |
| I have to wonder if heating is really a bad thing. When the frame pick-up points on a truck are rivetted, they do get hot enough that you can't hold em! It's surely a matter of what kind of alloy they're made from. But if you're using multiple hits to properly form a rivet, even a small one, I'd tend to think this would over harden them. What would be the thoughts on oil quenching a dull cherry'd rivet after forming? Squirt quenching with oil down to a particular temp., then slow cooling to room temp...? Would this yeild Some hardening, yet not a full shell? And at the same time, keep from taking the hardness out of the receiver around the rivet hole? |
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Quoted:
It takes practice, unless you got crappy tools then it doesn't matter I've done a lot of rivets and still mess them up once and a while.
What brand rivets are you using? This might be the problem too? I used TAPCO rivets twice and didn't care for them, AK_Builder has nice rivets which several vendors also sell. good point about akbuilder rivets and flats..........much better stuff, the flats have the correct magwell size and stampings 
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Quoted:
I have to wonder if heating is really a bad thing. When the frame pick-up points on a truck are rivetted, they do get hot enough that you can't hold em! It's surely a matter of what kind of alloy they're made from. But if you're using multiple hits to properly form a rivet, even a small one, I'd tend to think this would over harden them. What would be the thoughts on oil quenching a dull cherry'd rivet after forming? Squirt quenching with oil down to a particular temp., then slow cooling to room temp...? Would this yeild Some hardening, yet not a full shell? And at the same time, keep from taking the hardness out of the receiver around the rivet hole? Quenching a cherried rivet is likely a bad idea. Once you heat it up it is going to relax and it will not hold as well. Also, the hardening is a desired property. It reduces the relaxation (creep for metallurgists) of the rivet. If the receiver is in the annealed state it can only get harder with heat treatment. |
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