The Armour Archive

Wouldn't hold up for crap, if you could figure a way to get a marshall to pass it...

But they are DAMNED handy for temporary assembly and test fitting stuff before doing your finish work.




I don't have any 1/8" bolts conveniently located anywhere I can find them and nuts to go with, so I dug through the extensive fastener collection that my father left me, and that's what I cam up with. They don't snug up as tight as a bolt or a "real" rivet would, nor do they really hold up at all well. On the other claw they go in about a zillion times faster than a bolt, they come out in about half the time (conveniently self centering themselves for drilling out) don't screw up stakes or hammers when you do beat on them, and I really don't have to give a crap whether or not I jack them up in the process of making a helmet.

Hi there Mattmaus, How you been? any new projects? Yes the aluminum pops are about as tuff as butter, but PERFECT for temp assembly and straps like you said. They drill out nice and easy. (Are you going to heat blue the hammered plates in the pic and leave the hammer marks?) Thanks for sharing.

Take care

Pitbull

clecos are even faster but your SOL with out the pliers.

Glad to see we are all on the same "bad idea" page, got a little worried when I saw the topic.

But what is a "clecos" not familiar with the tool.

Pitbull Armory wrote:Are you going to heat blue the hammered plates in the pic and leave the hammer marks?

I just might be putting the hammered textured stuff in the oven for a bit to get a nice blue grey color, chem blackening the whole shebangly thing after that, then scuffing it off giving a lot of blue grey highlights, and probably a couple silvery ones now and again on the high points.

It can all bake and dry and stuff while I polish the bands.

losthelm wrote:clecos are even faster but your SOL with out the pliers.

I also expect that they would respond much less favorably to hammering right over the top of them like I did whith these, and probably piss me off when the new expensive toy was mangled all to shit and unusable after the first go round.

mattmaus wrote:

losthelm wrote:clecos are even faster but your SOL with out the pliers.

I also expect that they would respond much less favorably to hammering right over the top of them like I did whith these, and probably piss me off when the new expensive toy was mangled all to shit and unusable after the first go round.

My thoughts exactly, its one of the reasons bolts annoy me - I cant hit anything near then without them dying.

Despairbear, Clecos are a temporary, reusable rivet or fastener/tool for exact testfitting of metal panels, much used in the aviation industry.

Cleco pliers and Clecos this page Size them to fit your holes, spung 'em in, see what still needs some tweaking to lie right, or go on to the hole you're trying to locate properly, and so on. They also work for testfitting articulating lames together. But don't pound on them. At going on a dollar apiece new, you wouldn't.

Lowbuck Tools offers kits and low prices and some blurbage.

another vendor probibly be best price for used equipment.
http://www.yardstore.com/index.htm

Think of them as temporary toggle bolts for sheet metal.