Yesterday I paid a visit to Doncaster show where I met up with a few fellow members, Pete (Jake's Dad , Tony Hubbard and Richard Spoors. I also caught up with a lot of other fellow modellers and traders that I haven't seen for three years. After collecting a couple of pre orders from Finney7 and Metalsmith and then buying other bits and pieces including some driving wheels for a J21 (I already have tender wheels for it. I risked a look on the Bring and Buy stand. I went later because I didn't want to be tempted by a too good to miss kit as I have far too many as it is. What I did find for the princely sum of £19 was a Double Leaky Rivet press. I was amazed that it hadn't been snapped up and I wasn't the only one, as when I was paying for it the guy who served said that he thought that as he was putting the price label on he thought that someone would be taking it out of his hands. It needs a little TLC and at first glance I knew it was missing the depth guide but otherwise pretty good condition for something that will be getting on for 30 or more years old. This thread is to share the journey of it's restoration.
A bit of online research found me a photo of what it should look like so I set about cleaning it up. It turns out the handle was on upside down. By good fortune I had a couple of pieces of rod in my stores that would make a replacement for the depth guide. I had a choice of Nickel Silver or Silver steel so I chose the latter. as being more suited to a machine. I turned a 60 degree point on it as looking about right from the photo and then milled a flat for the work piece to rest against. Next I went over it with a wire brush in my Dremel and I was pleasantly surprised when most of the surface rust came off leaving the painted surface underneath. I quite like the lived in look so I am not going to repaint it as I had originally planned. all that remains is for m to fasten it to a suitable piece of wood and hopefully to make some addition anvils for it. In my searches I determined that as bought they came with 4 anvils whereas mine only has one at the minute. The good news is that a member of Western Thunder has one of these so I have asked if he will take photos of the additional anvils and get me some key dimensions and I will have a go at making some more. I recently scrapped a duff Compound Mitre saw that I had, had for 20 years. Before scrapping it, I recovered lots of useful bits of steel and aluminium. One of the former should be just right to make the anvils.
I made a slight modification to the back of the depth guide allowing me to get as close to the edge of the sheet as I might need to and then did a couple of lines of test rivets in a small piece of 10 thou (0.25mm) Nickel sheet. The first line from the left is a bit ragged for the first 7 or 8 until I got used to it then the lines are bang on from there. I am most impressed (if you will pardon the Pun!)
So this is for making the rivets on the brass kits? Nice. I have something an old jeweller gave me with a vertical pin that I gently tap with a hammer.. not that I’ve used it in 15 years!
Andy I have a refined version of yours - approx 250mm long pin with a drop weight. You set a pair of nuts at the top and bottom of the shaft. Place the pin in the location, raise the weight to the top set of nuts, and just let it go. Paul
Dear Rob, 1 / nice article, especially as your restoration saved the item from being junked. 2 / per #2, I suggest you consider giving the Press a coating of clear varnish to both protect the original paint, and to prevent future rusting. 3 / re #3, in the real world, rivets were also a bit wonky, purely because they were done by hand and eye, and as everyone "sees" gaps differently, that explains why prototypes with multiple components or multiple members, look different. 4 / if you intend to make your own interchangeable anvil and related pin components, then, depending on your desired size, it may be possible to do other shapes. An enjoyable read, Best wishes and regards, Echidna.
Hi Echidna, Re your point #2, I have given it a wipe over with oil, but I may well apply a coat of varnish as you suggest. I agree with you regarding real world rivets, for a long time there has been a narrow gauge locomotive as one of the first exhibits seen in Locomotion the Northern outpost of the NRM. This has a line of rivets down the outside which "follow" the line of the sloping coal space, they are all over the place. #4 making the striker pin in say hex or square wouldn't be too difficult but the problem as I see it would be making reciprocal holes in the anvil to suit especially at the sizes that we are talking about, but I wonder if that actually matters. Fraser, the gent that kindly supplied me with the photos and dimensions had made an anvil from Brass to create a certain spacing of rivet and he said that despite being brass it hadn't worn or deformed. I wonder if I might make a striker pin and a brass anvil with a hole slightly smaller than needed and force the two together to deform the hole into either hex or square to create bolt heads. Mmmm... another rabbit hole to wander down and get lost in. Thanks for the suggestions. If I pursue them I will update this thread.
Hi Rob If you make the pin tool out of hexagonal steel, then either buy or machine brass to the same size and shape as the pin stock, align the two pieces in between clamps / jaws and tap the end of the steel to make the indentations. You could then face the brass part to remove any build up. Paul
It being too hot to think about models I needed another distraction so I decided to have a go at making some additional anvils for the Leakey Rivet Press. All didn't go as planned because I really strugg.led to get my head around using the four jaw chuck to offset turn. I ended up milling my first go to give me four different spacings of a slightly larger than standard rivet (0.8mm as opposed to 0.7mm) Then I had another go and got nearly there, that one has a 0.5mm hole and lastly I did get there and that one has a 0.9mm hole so lots of options for different sized rivets/spacings.
May I ask, does the flat surface make a different shape rivet to a domed top? And is that a bold head? Is the little dimple for the centre point on the lathe? Andy
Hi Andy, No, the flat surface is just to support the material surrounding the rivet. The dimple is what the rivet gets pressed out into. The different sized holes create different sized rivets and the edges of the flat area determine how far apart the rivets are spaced. As you rotate the round ones the rivets are spaced further apart. On the one that I milled there are six faces, each giving a different spacing four in in half millimetres increments and two with 0.75mm increments so hopefully most bases with be covered. Best of all is that they are made from some pieces of rod that I recovered from a Compound Mitre saw that I scrapped after 20 years service last year. Anything that looked remotely useful went in a bucket.
