Rivet Nut...! What...? How...? Where...?
Boys and Girls,
While window shopping in my local men's shoe shop (tool shop), I came across what looked like a more user friendly pop rivetter.
After some dumb questions, I was informed it was a Rivet Nut Setter.
QuĆ©ā¦???... I asked the salesman to speak into my good eye. He informed me it was a tool for inserting metal threads into thin metal (sheet metal) using a pop rivet principle.
Now I'm not here to spruik a brand (that's why it's here and not under Reviews) but to make readers aware of the tool in case you may not have stumbled across it while browsing your wife's Women's Weekly magazine.
As soon as the salesman described it, my mind started running amuck and while I had no idea where I would use it, I could foresee its use in some of my jigs and workshop attachments.
Disclaimerā¦ Now this does not replace the traditional tapping of thick metal or timber, however, it is ideal for thin materialā¦ have not tried it in thin ply but I believe it may work.
The thickness of material is governed by the "compression collar" on the nut which increases as you move up the guage.
Purchased it for $122(Aus., slight discount). The gun came with the full range of threaded (3, 4, 5, 6. 8 and 10mm) mandrels and a teaser of 10 of each rivet nuts.
Got it home, unpacked it and mused over a cask of vino of where I could use it (the gun, not the vino). I proceeded to prepare some samples to demonstrate its use to inquisitive visitors to my workshop and quickly forgot about it with the assistance of an overindulgence of the red fluid.
Started working on a project and spent some time looking for a knob used on my router to hold an "outrigger".
This knob is already a replacement due to me losing the original one. Hey, Festool is metricā¦ my nuts (riveter) are metricā¦
The knob had a 5mm thread so I drilled a 11mm hole in the plastic formfit systainer insert. Popped a 5mm nut in there and voilaā¦ now had a permanent place for that bloody recalcitrant knob.
OKā¦ I'll confess, you don't need to part with all those shekels to buy a Festool OF1400 router for finding a use for these rivet nut, however, I'm sure you may find use for it elsewhere in the workshop, your car or the missus car (the broomstickā¦ hey, I'm not sexistā¦ Harry Potter rides one).
To use it, you put in the appropriate mandrell, thread on the right nutā¦ don't, repeat don't forget to drill a hole in your target material otherwise it's too hard to push through,
Push the handles, but unlike a pop rivet where you snap the pin,
(I tried it on a piece of timber before I got the Festool brainwave and snapped it along the grain from too much forceā¦
however, you get to see how the "collar" compresses, rather than at the end like a pop rivetā¦)
snug it up till the "collar" compresses till it gives a tight fit in the hole.
If you do a Google, you will find some videos putting a better twist on this little product then me.
Hey, this tool may not be everyone's cup of tea, but then again I'm a coffee drinker and if you don't like the ideaā¦ don't read the article!.
Boys and Girls,
While window shopping in my local men's shoe shop (tool shop), I came across what looked like a more user friendly pop rivetter.
After some dumb questions, I was informed it was a Rivet Nut Setter.
QuĆ©ā¦???... I asked the salesman to speak into my good eye. He informed me it was a tool for inserting metal threads into thin metal (sheet metal) using a pop rivet principle.
Now I'm not here to spruik a brand (that's why it's here and not under Reviews) but to make readers aware of the tool in case you may not have stumbled across it while browsing your wife's Women's Weekly magazine.
As soon as the salesman described it, my mind started running amuck and while I had no idea where I would use it, I could foresee its use in some of my jigs and workshop attachments.
Disclaimerā¦ Now this does not replace the traditional tapping of thick metal or timber, however, it is ideal for thin materialā¦ have not tried it in thin ply but I believe it may work.
The thickness of material is governed by the "compression collar" on the nut which increases as you move up the guage.
Purchased it for $122(Aus., slight discount). The gun came with the full range of threaded (3, 4, 5, 6. 8 and 10mm) mandrels and a teaser of 10 of each rivet nuts.
Got it home, unpacked it and mused over a cask of vino of where I could use it (the gun, not the vino). I proceeded to prepare some samples to demonstrate its use to inquisitive visitors to my workshop and quickly forgot about it with the assistance of an overindulgence of the red fluid.
Started working on a project and spent some time looking for a knob used on my router to hold an "outrigger".
This knob is already a replacement due to me losing the original one. Hey, Festool is metricā¦ my nuts (riveter) are metricā¦
The knob had a 5mm thread so I drilled a 11mm hole in the plastic formfit systainer insert. Popped a 5mm nut in there and voilaā¦ now had a permanent place for that bloody recalcitrant knob.
OKā¦ I'll confess, you don't need to part with all those shekels to buy a Festool OF1400 router for finding a use for these rivet nut, however, I'm sure you may find use for it elsewhere in the workshop, your car or the missus car (the broomstickā¦ hey, I'm not sexistā¦ Harry Potter rides one).
To use it, you put in the appropriate mandrell, thread on the right nutā¦ don't, repeat don't forget to drill a hole in your target material otherwise it's too hard to push through,
Push the handles, but unlike a pop rivet where you snap the pin,
(I tried it on a piece of timber before I got the Festool brainwave and snapped it along the grain from too much forceā¦
however, you get to see how the "collar" compresses, rather than at the end like a pop rivetā¦)
snug it up till the "collar" compresses till it gives a tight fit in the hole.
If you do a Google, you will find some videos putting a better twist on this little product then me.
Hey, this tool may not be everyone's cup of tea, but then again I'm a coffee drinker and if you don't like the ideaā¦ don't read the article!.