How to Install and Remove Pop Rivets with a Rivet Gun
A pop rivet, or blind rivet, joins two pieces of thin metal or plastic when you can only get at one side of the job, so it turns up all over gutters, flashings, trailer panels and Colorbond. The gun pulls a steel pin, called the mandrel, back through the rivet until the far end squashes out behind the sheet and the pin snaps off, and that's the pop.
Pick the right rivet first
The packet gives you a diameter and a length, and both matter. The diameter has to match the hole you drill, and the length has to suit the total thickness of everything you're joining, which the packet calls the grip range. A rivet that's too short won't form properly behind the sheet, and one that's far too long folds over and holds badly.
Match the metal as well where you can. Aluminium rivets suit aluminium and Colorbond sheet, while stainless suits stainless, because two different metals touching in the weather corrode each other over time. Coloured rivets in the Colorbond colours are worth having on anything that'll be seen, like a fence or a flashing.
How to put one in
Clamp the pieces together so they can't shift, and drill a hole through both with a bit the same size as the rivet or a whisker over. Too tight and the rivet won't go in flush, while a sloppy hole lets it spin and pull loose.
Push the mandrel into the nose of the rivet gun until it grips, and then put the rivet into the hole with the head sitting flat against the sheet. Hold the gun square to the work and squeeze the handles. A longer rivet takes a few squeezes, so let the handles open and push the gun back up against the head between each one until the mandrel snaps.
A good rivet sits flat with no gap under the head. If it wobbles, drill it out and do it again rather than putting a second rivet beside it.
How to drill one out
Tap a centre punch into the middle of the rivet head so the drill doesn't skate across the sheet. Then, with a bit about the same size as the rivet, drill into the centre just far enough for the head to come away, which is usually only a couple of millimetres.
Once the head's off, push the body of the rivet through from the front with a punch. Drilling all the way through the rivet usually spins it in the hole and makes the hole bigger, so stop at the head. Wear safety glasses for all of it, because the snapped mandrels and the drilled-off heads both fly.
Shop related products
- Macsim 3.2mm x 4.8mm Aluminium Rivets, 15 pack. A common small rivet for light sheet work.
- Macsim 4.0mm x 6.4mm Aluminium Rivets, 15 pack. A bigger rivet for thicker joins.
- Macsim 3.2mm x 4.8mm Surfmist Rivets, 15 pack. Coloured to suit Surfmist Colorbond.
- Supercraft Centre Punch 3mm. Stops the drill skating when you drill a rivet out.
Did you know we also stock hand riveters in the shop, along with boxes of aluminium and steel rivets and coloured rivets in the Colorbond range. They aren't on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check stock before you come in.
The rest of the online fixings are in fasteners and fixings, and the hand tools in hand tools.
Read next
- Which drill bit is best for metal, timber, masonry or tile
- Colorbond fencing for a new home in South Australia
I'm still a little bit pleased with myself every time one goes pop, and I don't see that changing.
Candeece
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