This morning I fabricated a close proximity rivet tool. I have the rivet wedges which I made out of the aluminum stock from Van's, but the tool will allow me to bend rivets before inserting them into the hole.
I obtained a piece of aluminum from Kingdon Sheet Metal. I called Rob Lee at HESCO and asked him where I could find a piece of aluminum bar. He suggested I call Dave at Kingdon. Dave very graciously gave me a piece of 3/8"x1"x3" long aluminum.
I ripped it to 9/16" wide on the band saw. I then cut an angled notch on the end using a rivet wedge as a guide for the angle.
I cleaned up and rounded all of the edges and corners on the Scotch Brite wheel. I drilled a #30 hole perpendicular to the angled face of the notch and also drilled another #30 hole in the body of the tool. Now I can bend a rivet by inserting the rivet into the hole in the body of the tool and then pull it by placing the tool over the inserted rivet.
There are still some areas where I will need to use a small rivet wedge to pull rivets but this tool will help in a lot of other areas.
