Riveting or...drill, hammer, repeat. Part 3

Drilling Holes for
 Various Rivet Styles

This is Part 3 of my series of blog posts about the different types of drilled holes and Rivet styles. Please see Part 2 of my blog post series for general information and additional tips. 

Part 1 was about my two days of experimentation and practice with riveting; I worked on three different methods of using annealed, solid Brass Escutcheon pins as well as learning to use a Nail Set tool instead of a ball peen or riveting hammer as I was use to. 

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Drilling Holes for Various Rivet Styles:

#1-4 Just drilled

#5-7 Drilled & Counter Sunk

The Burs were removed & the Cross Sections are shown.

#1 This cross section example shows a drilled hole that's been deburred. 
This is probably the most common drilled hole for rivets.

#3 'Front' domes are made with a Nail Set tool.
'Back' end is an Escutcheon Pin with it's dome or Wire that was pre-domed.

#4 'Front' domes are made with a Nail Set tool.

'Back' end is Flush and works as a 'plug' since the end of the wire was compressed during the hammering when it couldn't move because the anvil blocked it. There's a lot of friction between the interior walls of the drilled hole and the jammed in metal from the wire.

#2's 'Front' is only to show how #4's 'Back' end looks like.

#5 This cross section example shows a drilled hole that's been counter-sunk at the 'Front' end, as well as deburred. 

#6 'Front' end was counter-sunk and the end of the rivet is Flush to the surface of the piece.  
'Back' end is an Escutcheon Pin with it's dome or Wire that was pre-domed.

#7 'Front' and 'Back' ends were counter-sunk and both ends of the rivet are Flush to the surface of the piece. 
This is a common style of rivet. To make a stronger rivet soldering both ends before filing and sanding away the excess metal from the hammering. Very little solder is needed.

Drill the holes that will hold the body of the rivet: 

Use drill bits that are the exact same diameter as the pin's shaft or wire, a good fit gives better results. If you need to make a wide hole it's often best to first make a Pilot Hole by first drilling through with a narrower drill bit. Trying to remove too much metal at once can cause issues for larger drill bits.

Debur the openings of the drilled hole:

There are several ways of deburring, which leaves cleaner results:

• sand the surface smooth to remove the sharp, raised metal
• gently press a Round Bur, that is wider than the drilled hole, against the lip and twist a few times just enough to remove the excess metal bits
• use slightly larger Drill Bit the same way you would a Round Bur
• Be careful since the uneven edges could make either tool bounce out and scratch the surface.

Riveting: Using a Nail Set Tool and Escutcheon Pins

Riveting: Using a Nail Set Tool 
and Escutcheon Pins

You can see several examples of rivet styles #3 and #4 in the photographs of my experimentation, from the graphic at the top of this blog post.