Cushion Rivets

[Jamie]

Hi! I have 24 cushion facings to replace but all our rivets are relativley new. Is there anyway of removing the rivets so I can re use them? As I dont fancy spending the £ 400 odd quid for replacements...


Thanks

Jamie

[daprhb]

I've never seen any way of getting them out of there without cutting them in half. Maybe someone else has.

[rivmike]

Back a few month some posted only using top row of rivots to hold the facing. maybe cut the old facing leaving the bottom row there, (I make them out of old carpets) then replace new with top row. Will save alittle. (just a thought)

[Gym]

Wow! I never thought about pulling them back out. I gotta try that. This is going to be interesting. However; on first thought, I can see where you would ruin the torque or holding capacity of the rivet. But I am still going to try it!

[rivmike]

Wow! I never thought about pulling them back out. I gotta try that. This is going to be interesting. However; on first thought, I can see where you would ruin the torque or holding capacity of the rivet. But I am still going to try it!

When a rivot would pull through, I would use an X-washer to hold it.

[Gym]

When a rivot would pull through, I would use an X-washer to hold it.

That's what I was thinking. But pulling them back out, Hmmmmmmm. This is going to be fun! The older AMF rivets that were black had a habit of popping. They also has a bad habit of tearing apart on install. They might lend themselves better to being pulled when compared to the QAMF rivets.

[rivmike]

That's what I was thinking. But pulling them back out, Hmmmmmmm. This is going to be fun!

When mine have to be rebuilt the rivot cost does'nt matter. I do like the the hidden bottom row where the ball hits.

[Gym]

When mine have to be rebuilt the rivot cost does'nt matter. I do like the the hidden bottom row where the ball hits.

I have to agree. The new style face is the stuff, but this is just plan dang interesting. Weren't there fellows that were just using the top row for the face telling us about this years back?

[clutchplate]

The 6 hole facings are held on just by the top rivets but all the rest are still used, they are just covered up by the facing.

As for reusing rivets. If possible, only the rubber ones can be pulled out without too much trouble. I never use rubber rivets, only urethane ones and there is no way to reuse them. They just dont have much give unlike rubber ones.

[Pietenpol]

Think of it maybe as an enlarged chassis pin. Get a thin walled tube that just fits through the rivet holes. I'm guessing an inch or 2 longer than the width of the plank,cushion and facing. Lube it up and slide it over the rivet. Grab the rivet that extends past the tube and pull it up into the tube while pushing the tube into the cushion compressing the bulge. push the tube and rivet back out and pull it out of the tube. Wouldn't work if you cut the tails off your rivets but it has a chance of working I would think.

[8270king]

Think of it maybe as an enlarged chassis pin. Get a thin walled tube that just fits through the rivet holes. I'm guessing an inch or 2 longer than the width of the plank,cushion and facing. Lube it up and slide it over the rivet. Grab the rivet that extends past the tube and pull it up into the tube while pushing the tube into the cushion compressing the bulge. push the tube and rivet back out and pull it out of the tube. Wouldn't work if you cut the tails off your rivets but it has a chance of working I would think.

Question - have you ever removed a rubber or urethane rivet using this method?

If so was it easy?

[Pietenpol]

Haven't tried it...was just brainstorming a possible way to do it.

[Gym]

I think Pie is onto something here. I'm thinking along the lines of a tool we used to compress piston rings.

[8270king]

I would like to know if this works

[yourmecanix]

Pull the old facing off leaving all the rivets in place. Get a shoe string from an old house shoe, a strong one. wrap it around the head of the rivet 3 or 4 times then run it through the proper hole in the facing. pull on the string and use a flat screwdriver to work the rivet head through the facing, then pull the string on out. Go back with a 6 hole facing and you save a lot of work. I've done this many times without any problems.