Air pop rivet tool

Mine is a Central Pneumatics model 167 (made in Taiwan).

Dunno if that's a cheapy or high quality. I got it second (or third?) hand.

I have pulled thousands of 1/8" rivets and several hundred 3/16".

Never missed a lick.

Richard

--For a real cheapie try my solution:

--In this application the widget's on a nutsert tool but you can put it on any squeezy-type hand tool.

Don't you weld more than you pop-rivet?

Once a decade? Go with HF. Their hand riveter is OK, as are most of their tools. And $35 is an easy choice. Buy it just before you're going to use it and if it doesn't last the project, or you don't like it for some reason, return it.

SWAG:

$34.95 on sale. Use a 20% coupon for an even better deal.

Unfortunately, I had a head come off my HF 3# cross pein hammer today. Luckily, I took the swing and it kindasorta melted into the workpiece instead of flying 30' and taking out a pedestrian, a window, or my client.

A 1' long wooden stake into the ground took it out.

I need to remove the epoxy and see if the thing can be saved with a wedge. It felt good until the head came off.

-- Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace. -- Robert J. Sawyer

Central is a Harbor Freight brand. Obviously yours was pretty decent.

Yep, I've got a cheapie, about $60 cost. I've done hundreds of rivets including stainless & it works fine. It's almost fun to use and your wirsts dont get jarred either!

from wires;

I tried the HarborFreight one. The gripper jaws wore out after only about 100 rivets. very poor quality steel in there. Buy something better. I'm still shopping myself for a better one.

ing rather than special stitching self drilling screws @ $.17 - $.26 per.I have always wanted an air pop rivet tool, and it's one of those things that if I had one, I'd probably use it more on some projects.Question: Is this tool like a HF cheapie thing, or is it worth it to buy one that will last a lifetime? And it seems they are all fairly inexpensive, $25 - $60. Is it w orth the extra dough to get a decent one over the HF version, or is this a tool that will see such little use that a cheap one will last long enough?B rand name suggestions?Steve -- Heart surgery pending? www.heartsurgerysurvi valguide.comHeart Surgery Survival Guide Now on facebook, too.

It all depends on how much you think you'll be using it. For occasional us e, the HF will probably be fine. Downside is that it's a lot bulkier than some of the manual pullers and doesn't fit well in restricted spaces. Like the other poster, mine is made in Taiwan, I have no idea where current sto ck is made or what shortcuts they've got in the design. Mine has had no oi l leaks anyway, but I haven't pulled thousands of rivets with it, either. They regularly go on sale and with a 20-25% coupon from the local paper are pretty much a steal. I think my final cost was less than $20. You'll proba bly want one of the swivel head manual pullers as well for tight spots. My projects are such that that one usually gets more play anyway, just because I don't have to drag out the hose and get the tank pumped up to use it for one or two rivets.

Note that some stainless rivets have hard shanks and they'll slip, no matte r what make of puller you get. Had a hell of a time pulling a half-dozen o f those on one project, got them from the hardware store.

Stan