DIYbanter - View Single Post

[email protected]

(Doug Miller) wrote:

In article , wrote:
I'm constructing a garbage (shopping) bag holder/dispenser consisting
of about 28 inches of 7 inch metal duct pipe, a cap (also duct and
this is actually on the bottom), a webbing strap to attach it to the
wood above the space next to the refrigerator, and vinyl similar to
seat covering to cover the piping and the hand hole in the side.

I was attaching the cap to the bottom with pop rivets but
unfortunately I broke the gun so I'm in the market for a new one. In
reviewing the available options I see that there are ones with 14 and
18 inch handles. Great idea. I'm as weak as a kitten and extra
leverage would help a lot. But...

The handles on mine are only about 10" long, and it's pretty easy to use.
Can't imagine why anyone would need 18" handles on a pop riveter.

Presumably you have no difficulty cutting (say) 7 inch duct pipe with
a manual pair of snips too. I do. It was a wonderful day I ignored the
advice from the HVAC people and purchased a electric snip from
Grizzly. I have the same problem here. Just accept that neither my
right nor my left hand can crush a VW g. Imagine I'm an 8 year old
boy.

All this opens up a can of worms. Should the blind side of the rivet
be the same shape as the visible side (i.e. a barely discernible bump)

No.

or should 90% of the blind rivet be still un-flattened?

No. If that's what you're getting, then you're using the wrong size rivets.
Try getting some that are shorter. What size are you using now?

Looks like about 3/8 inch.

The current
situation is mostly un-flattened but if this is the correct state of
affairs these have to be cut off so they don't tear the bags.

It's normal for there to be a protruding lump on the back side. It's not
normal for that lump to be much longer than the diameter of the rivet.

The web is annoyingly simplistic in all the how to's on the subject. I
have yet to find one that describes:

When to use aluminum and when to use steel.

When joining pieces of aluminum, or steel, respectively. Obviously.

Not obvious. What effect would there be to use aluminum (softer) in a
steel pipe in the absence of moisture and/or electrical conduction
questions? Even if corrosion resulted if it took ten years to manifest
itself it's unimportant given the application. OTOH if the aluminum
rivet will break after five days...that's another story.

Which # is first (or second). Is the first number the diameter of the
hole I need to drill

Yes.

and the second the thickness of the plate to be
joined?

Not quite. The second number is the *maximum* combined thickness of
materials that the rivet will fasten together.

In which case I should be looking at a 1/8 by (18 + 18ga) but
such a rivet doesn't exist.

1/8 x 1/4 or 1/8 x 3/16 should work just fine.

What do the HVAC people use?

Supply exists of things like 1/8 * 3/8
inches. Yikes! That implies two plates totaling 3/8 inch thick. A
massive piece of steel! Obviously I'm reading this all wrong.

3/8" is not "a massive piece of steel" by any stretch of the imagination.

Maybe my imagination stretches further than yours. 3/8 may not be
massive in the context of tank armor but a 3/8 thick duct pipe (or car
door, or refrigerator panel) would be huge.

A
more common use for a 3/8" long rivet would be attaching sheet metal to 1/4"
steel -- a 1/4" rivet isn't long enough.

Why would you ever use a pop rivet in 1/4 steel? Nut, bolt, screw,
tap... a lot more appropriate.

What size and type of gun do the people who use these frequently (not
in a factory environment) choose?

I just use a basic hand riveter that I bought at Sears many years ago for
about five bucks.