How a Rivet Tool Works

Using a Rivet Tool

The role of a rivet tool when joining two pieces of metal together is to provide the force required to make the rivets go firmly into the holes made for them in manner that they (the rivets) cannot come out again, at least not easily. Now doing this requires a considerable degree of force, as the holes drilled for the rivets are typically slightly smaller than the diameter of the rivets. This makes it impossible for the rivets to come out once they have been forced into the holes by the rivet tool.

For this reason, in order to provide the amount of force required to push the rivets into the holes in a manner that makes it hard for the rivets to ever come out again, most rivet tools are available in the form of guns. As with all types of guns, the rivet tool uses a trigger and spring mechanism to forcefully fire rivets into the holes made for them. The rivets to be used, of course, must first be bought and fed into the rivet tool before they can be used. In order to use a rivet tool to join pieces of metal together, the metal pieces must first be tightly clamped together and holes drilled (on concurrent positions in both pieces of the metal) to make a place for the rivets to go. With holes in place, the next step is to feed the rivets into the rivet tool and then force the rivets into the holes. This is done through the rivet tool's trigger mechanism or forceful hammering mechanism.

The End Result

Joints made using a rivet tool can be very strong. Also, when looked at from the other side of the metals joined, it can seem as if the metals so joined are in fact one seamless piece of metal.