Its been a while, life and work takes up so much valuable time!
The anvil arrangement took a bit of thinking about. I need something fixed but adjustable and the position must allow for riveting sides together that will be at 90 degrees to each other so providing a bit of height. I was thinking of using a frame bolted to the base of the press but there is a rectangular hole through the back of my press that allows for a bar to be passed through, I thought I could make use of this.
Anvil first.
Having made the George Thomas Universal Pillar tool some years ago I knew of a riveting attachment for this device that was described in GHT book Workshop Techniques. Although this was designed to be used with a die being hammered albeit supported by one of the pillar tool arms, the principal was the same so I borrowed it.
The barrel was turned up from a piece of 1" dia BMS, the slot cut via mill and an end cap silver soldered on, the rest of the bits being simple turning.
The die block itself was made from 3/8 square ground tool steel, hardened then tempered to blue. The shape was filed to suit the radius of the supporting washer and has an angle on the vertical plane to allow its close proximity to the work. The cup was formed with a round nosed slot drill and then stamped with the size.
The hole in the press needed cleaning up and took a fair bit of filing to get it right, using the blank of steel for the anvil support bar as a reference. The support bar itself was a piece of 2" x 5/8" and was shaped with angles cut front and rear, the front to allow welding of a round boss to take the anvil support barrel and the rear to take a tapered locking piece to stop it moving around in the press.
The boss was turned up as a blank then welded to the bar. The bar was then fitted to the press and with a scriber in the press hole the centre was transferred to allow an accurately bored hole in the anvil bar boss.
The wedge lock was roughed out then fitted to the bar using a file. The wedge is locked into place with a bolt in the end of the bar, a slot allows the wedge to move up the slope locking the whole lot into place. I soldered a piece of brass to the mating face of the wedge as the casting is not so even and I figured the soft brass would be less inclined to sieze in the hole when everything is tightened up, this might have been overkill.
The finished anvil bar:
A close up of the wedge:
So to put it all together, the bar inserted into the hole and the wedge applied to the back with the Anvil and die lined up at the business end.
I have only done some limited tests, ie three rivets, one of copper, brass and iron. I have to say it took a bit more force than anticipated with three or four 'bumps' required on the handle to set properly, however as a two handed operation, one holding the part and one applying the force I was well pleased. I can see that with a bit of practise this method will be far better than all that banging about, with a better, more controlled action, better accuracy and a far superior finish.
Front:
Rear
Side:
It appears the brass one has wandered a bit, this may be down to me cutting the rivet to length with side cutters, more investigation required when I get time.
I think the new addition to the tooling for the press will be put to good use and I can see adding further to this set up with small hole punches and a dolly to produce dummy rivet heads.
Hope this has been of use!
Tim
