Hand Operated Rivet Tool

S

Soft Cars

Joined
Sep 14, 2022
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There's nothing more boring than a hand rivet tool, but I might have to get one. The oxygen sensor underneath my car has a heat shield over it. In order to get to the sensor, the heat shield has to come off. Holding the heat shield on are 3/16'' blind rivets. All of the hand rivet tools I've seen on the interwebs are made in China; even the ones in excess of $40.00. I'd rather get a good made in USA rivet tool, but there doesn't seem to be any.

Is the one at Harbor Freight any good?

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-single-hand-professional-riveter-57995.html
 
I have the 17.5in hand riveter from harbor freight. I like it and you can get good power on the Rivet. It’s not really great for tight areas.
 
Soft Cars said:
There's nothing more boring than a hand rivet tool, but I might have to get one. The oxygen sensor underneath my car has a heat shield over it. In order to get to the sensor, the heat shield has to come off. Holding the heat shield on are 3/16'' blind rivets. All of the hand rivet tools I've seen on the interwebs are made in China; even the ones in excess of $40.00. I'd rather get a good made in USA rivet tool, but there doesn't seem to be any.

Is the one at Harbor Freight any good?

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-single-hand-professional-riveter-57995.html
Click to expand...
It's not my favorite tool. It's hard on the hands when the rivet finally snaps.
 
I have a 30 year old Marson 39000 that still operates like new, but it's one of those tools that sits in the drawer for years between uses. It's made in Taiwan now and appears to be the pro tool of choice for manual use. They do require good hand strength.

Sorry I cannot assist on experience with the Chinese made ones. I'll guess that they work fine for the very occasional user.
 
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I've got a couple hand tools, from cheap to decent quality. Only use them on small aluminum rivets. Otherwise, I pull out the 30 yr. old Chicago air riveter if I have to pull more than one rivet. Can't beat it, especially when pulling steel rivets.
 
Soft Cars said:
There's nothing more boring than a hand rivet tool, but I might have to get one. The oxygen sensor underneath my car has a heat shield over it. In order to get to the sensor, the heat shield has to come off. Holding the heat shield on are 3/16'' blind rivets. All of the hand rivet tools I've seen on the interwebs are made in China; even the ones in excess of $40.00. I'd rather get a good made in USA rivet tool, but there doesn't seem to be any.

Is the one at Harbor Freight any good?

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-single-hand-professional-riveter-57995.html
Click to expand...
For a small job like that with little rivets and only occasional use I don't see why it wont work fine.
 
Last edited:
D60 said:
I can't recall if I've ever set 3/16" steel myself. How many pulls/resets does it need?
Click to expand...
At least 3 full stroke pulls. And the thing won't let you use both hands; it insists on you using one hand.
 
D60 said:
I can't recall if I've ever set 3/16" steel myself. How many pulls/resets does it need?
Click to expand...
2-3 pulls. I found them and used them to rivet on snowmobile steel track cleats that they used on '70's vintage snowmobiles. Each cleat requires at least 10 rivets or more, old memory, to fasten them to the rubber belting.
 
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Arrow RH200 is what I've been using forever. It will do 3/16" rivets.

20230210_120004_resized.webp


https://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Fasten...1676059619&sprefix=Arrow+RH200,aps,282&sr=8-5
 
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