Hi all,
Can anyone tell me what size holes to drill for corresponding rivets?
I want to invest in a decent hand riveter,but most seem to use odd size rivets,such as 3.2mm,and 4.8 mm.
Do i take it that for 3.2mm,you use the nearest available drill bit,which is 3.5mm? Likewise 4.8mm,use a 5mm bit to drill the hole?

I also noticed in B+Q a "Heavy duty" riveter,that used 4mm,5mm etc.

What do you reccomend? Is there a cross reference chart anywhere?

many thanks,

Hammer Chewer x

You are correct, rivets need clearance holes as they just will not fit in the same size hole.
Only a small clearance is necessary as the rivet can be drawn down a bit and will swell on setting.
Imperial sizes would use number and letter clearance drills eg: 1/8'' would be a #30 and 5/32" a #21 which provide a few thou over but these are specialized and expensive.
The ones you have quoted look reasonable, in thin material some would just run the same size drill up and down a few times to get a clearance.
Page down to find metric on http://www.instrumentsnab.ru/files/pdfc ... 202007.pdf

Thankyou Aeromech

3.2mm is 1/8th inch and 4.6mm is 3/16ths inch the rivits are imperial. Buy some imperial drills.

Go with 5mm and 3.5. Unless you are doing high spec jobs, the .2/.3mm of clearance will make life easy. Use the exact size drill and getting the rivets in can be a pain.

As for the tool, what sort of rivets are you using? If you are going to be using mainly 4.8 steel rivets, you may want a heavy duty one, like a lazy tong riveter. If aluminium/smaller 3.2mm, you will be fine with a squeeze type.
If theres a Stanley or Eclipse one there, go for that if its in budget.

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