When we had a fresh budget to outfit our shop with new tools and gadgets, we knew a pneumatic air riveter would come in handy a few occasions each year.
We didn’t need to spend big bucks for a professional-grade riveter a pro mechanic would use because our tool wouldn’t be needed very often. We picked up this air rivet tool that met our needs nicely from Northern Tool and Equipment. It sets aluminum, steel or stainless rivets up to 3/16-inch. Four different size heads were included as were wrenches to interchange them.
We had to buy a 1/4-inch male air inlet separately before we used it. We coupled it to our compressor and at first use we ditched our hand-operated rivet gun. Pull the trigger once to seat the rivet, and the second pull cuts the nail with its steel-hardened jaws. This riveter operates in the range of 80 to100 psi. We’ve used it to secure new snow flaps, fasten license plates and luggage straps to tunnels.
This rivet tool was the backbone of a chassis rebuild project, too. We fastened new engine mounts, a new bulkhead and new trim on a REV rebuild that required three rivet types. It was heavier duty than we thought we’d ever need in our shop, but this tool worked flawlessly. A search on the company’s Web site did not identify this model until we plugged in its item number: 15761.