Easy bbl door riveting
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 11:47 am
Decided to rivet bbl door in place to look as authentic as possible. After deciding not to build the c-clamp type riveting tool I turned a couple of rivets fron 1/4 drill rod to .233 diameter and left a head aprox .050 thick to ease positioning while riveting. Center drilled the other end deep enough to leave a nice wide chamfer. Pushed both rivets in place from bbl opening outward then put the nose of the anvil in the bbl door opening with door closed to support the "nail head" end of the rivet. Then with safety gear in place I set a 1/4" ball bearing in the center of the drilled divet and placed a 1/2" diameter rod a few inches long, and also center drilled for the ball , on top of the ball and whacked it with a 3 pound sledge. Takes an extra set of hands to hold the assembly in place on the nose of the anvil but the whole process take less than 1 minute to do both sides. Here is a pic of the end result.