I'm in the middle of installing new window tracks, etc. in my '56 Ford. I am going to replace the run channel in the front, butted against the back side of the vent windows. I got the channel and seals from Dennis Carpenter and they come with these itty-bitty brass rivets to install them. Does anyone have any experience with this type of rivet? They're hollow, so my first thought was to back up the head of the rivet with something solid, then use a center punch to spread the other, hollow, end. That is probably a bad idea, but I have never had any experience with anything like these rivets. I imagine other make cars used the same type of fastener, so I'm hoping one of you has some guidance you'll share.
ask the person you got them from ? or, my grandfather had to make a couple rivet punches for the live steamers he built. figured out what profiles he wanted and carved them out on the lathe. any pics?
I've always used small aluminum pop rivets to install glass channel. The hollow rivets you've got are likely reproductions of the original stuff and there's probably a plier type tool available somewhere for setting and spreading them. C R Laurence is the biggest supplier of glass working tools in the country. I took a glance thru their stuff and didn't see any rivet pliers, but they have literally hundreds of different glass specialty tools available so they could have something and I just missed it. For the most part, pop rivets have replaced about all tubular rivets because they're so much quicker and easier to use. One exception is riveted brake linings where tubular rivets are still used, but the tools used for setting those are too big to use on glass channel.
I thought of that. In the application on my vent window, there is glass on both sides...in the run channel and againt the seal on the other side when the vent is closed. I'm afraid the back side of the pop rivet will get in the way.
Use a larger nail set are center punch. Get the fold started. Then a small flat nose punch to flatten them.
I thought of pop rivets, but in this application, the window glass is on one side, in the channel, and the vent glass is on the other side when the vent is closed. I'm afraid the crimped side of the rivet will hit the vent glass.
That's what I was thinking. I'll probably try that. I found the right punch, but it's $25 and would take a week to get here.
My machinist friend Klaus made that tool from an old Craftsman 5/16" centerpunch. He tooled it up in a 4 jaw (it was square-shanked 1/2",) then tapered down to a point at a perfect 45* angle. His 'attack' was with a 1/16" carbide blade, slightly rounded nose, 3/32" off center. The cut was perfect for rolling the ends of the hollow rivet, then just a slight 'tap' with a flat nose Starret 1/4" drift. Tighter than Dick's hat band.
We made a tool a while back; pair of vice grips with a block welded to each jaw, one block had a small ball bearing brazed to it. Put the flat block against the head and the ball on the shank and squeezed it to upset the rivet. Worked like a regular rivet squeezer but the blocks reached inside the channel and the ball worked with the tubular shanks. Sent from my Nexus 5X using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I threw the brass split rivets in the trash and used very small stainless flathead screws & nuts and they don't interfere with the glass,I picked them up at Ace Hardware. HRP
Hanson Rivets has every possible rivet related tool you could want. Get the right size die for the rivets you’re installing and it’s easy. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
My pop and I used a drill to make holes and used staples. We made the staples out of heavy copper wire bent with vice grips - we laid the wire on the teeth and bent the legs down so we ended up with staples about 1/2" wide. We didn't want to go buy some and we had PLENTY of wire... Drilled the holes in the fuzzy, stuck the staple in and bent the legs down on the other side. Took all day, but, what else could/should we have been doing other than workin on the car? OH, it was for my '51 Ford Club Coupe.
Is it possible to use a good adhesive instead of rivets? I did this on the division/vent bar on my F-1 pickup....been working fine for 10 years now.
When I bought my channel for the 55 bird, they sold the rivet tool and a little anvil for the installation. One of the bird suppliers, it’s probably pretty close to yours. But a little grinding on a nail set and a piece of 1/4” steel will be faster and cheaper.
This is the correct tool In essence you can achieve the same result with a domed punch and an anvil similar to this one for Chevy trucks. All you need to do is peen the back over as the shaft is hollow.
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