The Armour Archive

Doug,

Wow! You are the "gold" standard for posters! Thanks for the pictures. I do have a question mark in my head about exactly how the pin pushing operation works, and how it works in conjunction with setting the rivet.

When pushing the pin through using the open hole in the setting tongs, do the jaws of the tongs close completely togther? And when done the pin is now flush on one side.

And then when the pin-rivet is set using the dimple in the setting tongs to peen one side of the pin, that operation pushes the pin back just enough so that the "flat" side will expand a bit during the setting operation so that it is "staked" into place, and cannot fall through the hole?

Am I understanding the operations correctly?

-- Gest

Gest,

I'm glad something I do here benefits someone. Most of my time here is wasted on the political board. Maybe I should do something about that...

Anyway, I just push the pin rivets in with my thumb. Every so often I'll get a stubborn one that needs some coaxing from the tongs but not frequently. When this happens, yes the jaws close all the way. As long as the pin rivet is in the backside hole even a little bit, it will go the rest of the way in and swells when the rivet is peined.

When peining, the back end of the rivet gets smooshed and swells inside the hole in the ring, giving it that flush back and securing it in the ring. So yes, I think you're understanding correctly.

I've completely changed my process.

Instead of using an actual punch, I'm now using a drift to pierce the hole (it leaves excess around the hole, like many originals seem to have) and I'm using 20 ga. for rivets instead of 17 ga., which lets me flatten less and use less overlap, which leaves the ring much stronger because the area around the hole is thicker and less likely to tear. I will start a new thread detailing this process in a few weeks when I get a new camera.

We did some destructive testing. We were unable to "pop" the new style rings. We also took two pairs of pliers to do a "torque test", trying to pry it open like you might open a butted ring, and were unable to pop the rivet. The "torque test" was applied pulling the overlap APART, so all that stress was on the rivet. And see for yourself how it fared:

What kind of torch did you use? Oxygen Ecetaline or propane?

"And some valium"

I don't get it, how'd you make the Valium?





Just kidding, awsome work. Especially the modified tool work.

Waveicle

SirMendor wrote:What kind of torch did you use? Oxygen Ecetaline or propane?

Just propane.

what sized bottle?

14.1 oz, why?

always wanted to make riveted maille myself. Just wandered if I could with that my work sells.