Nameplate Rivets

I got mine for my Myford from Myford - can't remember what they called them or what they cost, but they were VERY reasonable

Not rivets, but are you thinking of drive screws?

John Martin

I forget the name (drive screws?), but McMaster Carr used to sell them.

Doug White

Drive screws?

Thanks, everybody. I ordered some from McMaster.

Pete Keillor

According to Pete Keillor :

I've got steel ones, bought from MSC.

They are called "drive screws", IIRC. They have a multi-start thread at about 45 degrees or so, which turns the screw as it is pressed into the workpiece.

Enjoy, DoN.

I have a box of them, somewhere. They are called spline rivets, are made of Bronze, not brass, and are driven/pressed into a slightly undersized hole. They are made with a spiral spline with a helix angle about 10-15 degrees. As I remember, I have two sizes, about 3/32" & some smaller ones. I can send you a few if I can find them. E-Mail me. Bugs

You can make some blind rivets out of soft brass. Insert close fitting pins to the bottom and to a depth where there is a length of aprox. 2 - 3 diameters above the plate; then carefully peen over with a small ball-peen hammer.

Bob Swinney

That's a good idea. I should have thought of that. If I need a different size than the ones I ordered, I'll try it. Even if the hole isn't blind It could probably be done with a bucking bar, just peen the end a little first.

Pete Keillor

I think they were called drive pins, or something similar. We used them many years ago at Barber Coleman/Wheelco. They were steel, had a short dog point and a fast spiral "thread" of maybe 2-3 turns per inch. This thread dug into the base material as you drove the pin home. The diameter was about 1/8" and the length was, maybe 3/8".

Pete Stanaitis

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Pete Keillor wrote:

Any clever tricks for removing nameplates without bending the hell out of them? I've got a couple machines I've been thinking about refinishing, and I could do a much nicer job if I could get the nameplates off without destroying them. The drive screws in question are very small & hard ro get any sort of purchase on.

Thanks!

Doug White

According to Doug White :

I would use a set of flush-cutting diagonal pliers to grip the head, and then rock them back to pull. You need to squeeze hard enough to groove the sides of the head, but not enough to cut through it.

Enjoy, DoN.

Any idea how hard they are? I had always assumed they were hard enough to cut into the base metal, which is frequently cast iron. Sounds like a good way to trash a set of flush cutters.

Doug White

Hey Doug:

How about center punch them then drill out with an undersize drill. Then apply an ez-out. Or alternate, center punch and drill with a L.H. drill.

If it was me I would make a little jig to be sure that I was center punching them accurately.

Errol Groff

Instructor, Manufacturing Technology H.H. Ellis Technical High School

New England Model Engineering Society

Center punch them and drill them out. Choose a drill size based on the chart of U Drive Screws showing shank sizes at McMaster.com, or the chart of your choice. These type screws, although they look like rivets, do not spin in their holes the way sheet metal rivets do. They're drillable, just be careful.

Dave

According to Doug White :

snipped-for-privacy@d-and-d.com

The ones which I have pulled were soft enough in the head so they did not damage my flush cutters. I haven't checked the ones which I have in a box, yet. But the grip doesn't need to be too tight, just enough to start the head up a bit, then you shift your grip, and get the lip of the cutters under the head, where it levers the head up, and allows it to rotate (don't grip on the second stage, just the first.)

I *think* that the head is annealed, while the spiral "threads" on the shank are work hardened.

Obviously, if you have access to the back, a drift-pin punch of the right size will get it out with no problems.

Enjoy, DoN.

It might work, but the ones I'm dealing with are too tiny for an ez-out. The left hand drill might work. The heads are less than 1/8th of an inch in diameter, so the root diameter of the "thread" is pretty small. If I can drill the heads off, I could remove the name plate & have a little bit sticking out I might be able to grab. Worse comes to worse, I could probably shift the plate slightly & drill new holes. I like the fixture idea. That way I presumably couldn't slip & chew up the name plate.

Doug White

I did like DoN said on some. If they wouldn't come, whacked the head off with a sharp chisel and drilled them out after removing the nameplate. However, the ones on my mill were brass.

Pete Keillor

I have had some luck pulling them with a good pair of pliers - get a good grip on the head and pull hard while rotating slightly to the left. Gerry :-)} London, Canada