Tried to send you a pm but I Cant seem to do it. In regards to blind rivets I assume it's preferable to get ones that keep the steel shaft when sheered. Like cherrymax? Do you have a supplier for cherry max?
James,
Yes, blind rivets that feature positive retention of their stem are far superior. The material of the rivet body and its stem (as well as its diameter) determine the shear strength, so the highest strength rivets are ones made of A256, titanium, and monel. Aircraft blind rivets are commonly found in aluminum, which are usually perfectly acceptable.
Good rivets are made by a number of manufacturers- Cherry, Huck, Allfast, etc. AVEX rivets are semi-structural rivets that offer a number of advantages- a very wide grip range & relatively inexpensive.
My car (a homebuilt Bonneville sports racer) used lots of rivets of various types. For example, the bottom 7075-T6 aluminum stressed panel is riveted onto steel chassis tubes with 451 blind rivets. It goes without saying that an air or, even better, an air-hydraulic rivet gun is going to be necessary. Even Popeye couldn't pull 451 rivets with a hand tool.
CherryMax, etc rivets are VERY expensive from retail vendors. I used various aerospace surplus sources, including eBay to find appropriate rivets for my application. You can find bargains by diligent searching. Pay attention to the grip length you need and regularly pore over the eBay offerings.
When riveting aluminum sheet to steel tube of aluminum sheet with dissimilar metal rivets, I recommend using a zinc chromate 2-part epoxy primer as a barrier to electrolytic corrosion. I buy this primer from Aircraft Spruce in CA.
I will attach pictures of my rivet patterns, a few good rivet guns, and a primered panel. Buy lots of Clecos!
