Does anybody know of a good cheap supplier where I can get 4mm Stainless Steel closed end pop rivets? Also stainless nutserts at a price which I don't need a bank load for! Also Dzus fastners come to that!
Screwfix if buying in bulk. They are called blind rivets
I don't think it's possible to by Dzus fasteners cheap. For what they are, they seem to be an arm and a leg everywhere.
Ben, screwfix only seem to do ally rivets, or am I missing something? I will use the ally ones on the sides etc but for my ally floor I want closed end ones (they are watertight, the "pin" doesn't go all the way through) and I want stainless as these are a bit stronger than ally. The ally ones tend to shear off in time with vibration and I don't want my floor going adrift!
David, I think you are right, direct from Dzus is cheapest but £35 min order. Light Aero seems to be the cheapest supplier for one-offs.
i'd stick it on too... Sikaflex! then it dont matter what rivets u use Ally rivets are best on ally.... stop corrosion between the different
metals
Fair point, I was going to stick it on as well with "polyurethane 40" from machine mart (super strong stuff) but didn't really think
about the load that would take off the rivets!
Where do you get real Sikaflex from? Always hear it mentioned but never ever seen a tube in my life!
Eeek, Sure i've misread this but ..... i'm sure you just said you're putting open headed rivets into the side of the car. This means
water and all sorts of crud can get into the chassis rails....
Tell me i've misunderstood.
Oh, if you're doing a screwfix order, let me know. I need some ali blind rivets and a new angle grinder ......... mutter mutter grumble grumble.
Hmmm, can probably find a few other things as well 
Hmm, had thought that but suppose i'd better use closed end ones. Anybody using screwfix ones needs to realise that they only do open ended ones
though! The closed end ones are MUCH more expensive! The "blind" in the screwfix terminology is just the may of reffering to a rivet that is
fixed from one side!
Back to the original question then! Anybody know of a stockist of cheap stainless and alloy closed end pop or "blind" rivets! Somebody must
know, and scewfix ones are no good!! not closed end! (I have loads of these already!!)
I think you will find that the blind rivets you have are of the 'break head' variety. When the rivet is set the head is pulled into the
rivet and breaks away from the mandrel. If you set a rivet and look at the back of it you will find, (assuming you have used a long enough rivet),
that the head of the mandrel is retained in the rivet body, ie the hole is closed. This will provide a reasonably water-tight fastening.
Break stem rivets, the ones where the mandrel breaks off flush with the rivet head are used primarily because of the increased shear strength of the
fastener imparted by the mandrel supporting the rivet.
It is also good practice to asemble rivetted joints 'wet' using a sealant or adhesive.
Mick
Ahhh, didn't realise that was the difference between break head and break stem ones! The closed end ones I was talking about are the ones where
the actual body of the rivet is closed at the end which is inserted into the hole, i.e. the rivet is a "can" not a "tube" for want
of a better description. These are fully pressure and watertight (not that they need to be pressure tight in a car!)
Are these just OTT for a car?
Also, whether break head or break stem or closed end, does anybody know a fairly cheap source of stainless ones?
http://www.prifast.co.uk/fasteners.htm
I had some breakhead that I picked up at work years ago. They tend to leave a sharp bit sticking out of the rivet head so I didn't use them for the car. Ordinary breakstems are easiest to use with a hand riveter. I used 3.2's and made the holes with a 3.5 drill I think it was.I think anyones fears of water getting in through rivets is a bit far fetched unless you submerge the car on regular occasions.
quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
II think anyones fears of water getting in through rivets is a bit far fetched unless you submerge the car on regular occasions.
I had some breakhead that I picked up at work years ago. They tend to leave a sharp bit sticking out of the rivet head so I didn't use them for
the car. Ordinary breakstems are easiest to use with a hand riveter.
Pete
Point of pedantry but it's breakstem rivets that can leave the mandrel protruding from the rivet head.
Mick
break stem rivets that leave part of the mandrel protruding from the formed hed are called 'shaveable' rivets.
The reason they are designed this way is so that the stem can be ground down to be flush with the rivet head thus producing a very smart looking
result (looks like a solid rivet)
(PS I'm using them on my car and no i don't think they are over the top!)
