Pop rivet tool for ESB graflex grips

Taco-Bot

Taco-Bot

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Hey RPF hive mind: I'm trying to find a rivet tool that can handle stainless steel rivets and get into the 8-10 mm gap on the ESB graflex grips.

Anyone have any ideas of a model that's on the market? I recently bought 2 different tools that have too large of a head to get the job done right.
 
Hey Taco-Bot ! Looks like you've already received some awesome suggestions, but I'll throw this in here for you too...

My riveter is a Pittsburgh model from Harbor Freight, it's under a new brand name apparently now, but it's the same part #...

https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-riveter-set-38353.html

The different heads are fairly small, and if they didn't fit, I'd use the methods listed above. Though I'd probably use a little stack of washers or a little chunk of wooden dowel with a hole drilled through it just to be unique. ;)

You could probably even use a little piece of Indian Money if you had one lying around. That might even give you a bit of pre-historic weathering on the rivet head while you're busy affixing it!

Good Luck on your ESB build!!!
 
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Word of warning.. if you do this, make sure the nut is as tight around the rivet as possible. If its too loose the space around the rivet head will be left uncompressed and youll be left with an ugly bulge instead of it being flush.
To fine tune the technique, I measured the air space between the t-track and the gun head (ie. the space that the rivet gun couldnt reach), I then cut some aluminium strip of that depth and then cut the width to 8mm width to fit within the T-track groove. I then drilled a hole through the aluminium to the exact size needed for the rivet. (if all thats confusing, type 'riveting in tight spaces' into youtube)
Screen Shot 2018-03-24 at 08.02.57.png
It works but i never got perfect rivets every time. If I did it again I would have removed the rivet from the pin, cut the length down and then just glued them into the hole. They look perfect and provide holes for sound if you decide to add electrics.
 
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This thread is fairly old, but it's the consensus now that there were no rivets in the ESB Graflex grips, but instead use #4 Pan Head Phillips Screws (Although the color is still being debated. In some shots, they are black screws, in others, they're silver. That's a different discussion in itself, haha.)
 
I have to agree that the vast majority of shots are phillips screws and they possibly all are.. but is there not a shot somewhere in Bespin that shows a possible rivet version??

Regardless, there will always be people who give it the benefit of the doubt because rivets look more futuristic.
 
The ESB lightsaber that Profiles in History put up for auction last year had rivets for whatever that's worth.

I put rivets in mine. There's so much variance scene to scene, and in examples that are out there, with that prop that you almost can't go wrong with your choices.
 
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