Is there a cutter to get rear trunnion rivets out?

[Eskimo Joe]

I tried my first rear trunnion and drilled the center and had little success at punching out the rear trunnion rivets on a Romy kit. My gunsmith buddy ended up doing it for me. IS there a better way maybe a carbide cutter or something or is it best to small drill the center and smash the guts outs of the old rivet in a vise to get it out. I guess it thought that was one of the easy parts-old rivet removal??
I am looking for advise from the experienced. Thanks.
Eskimo Joe.

[owlcreekok]

Howdy EJ ! First Romy I demilled, those rear rivets punched out slick as you please. I drilled them, a few thou' smaller than the actual OD, set it on a block of aluminum with a hole thru (ala' "bench block") and they tapped right out. Hard taps, but out. The next few I almost destroyed the damn things. I drilled, tapped, beat, cussed. I have threaded the rear trunnions a few times, but when the rivet gets drilled out too far off center the hole is ruined. I refuse to tap it 1/4" x 28, leaves too little meat, IMO.

I have found that CAREFUL locating of center, then drilling thru as large as you dare, then using a tap to eat out the remnants of the old rivet, then re-rivet has worked well. Usually I don't get the tap into the hole very far before the old skeletal remains of rivet turns loose. The results vary, this way of course. So far, all of my builds have been to retain the original finish on the rear trunnion. My next couple of builds will not be that way. SO, I will NOT have ANY trouble getting the rivets out. So long as I have oxygen and acetylene in my tanks.

:skull:

PS, I took a piece of oak and "machined" it into a holding jig for rear trunnions. Place the trunnion into the jig, clamp the hell out of it in a BIG vise and wail away on it. I had a hole in the bottom of my jig for the rivet to pop through. This worked on the aforementioned "easy" ones. I beat the thing all to hell on the later hard ones. :sad:

[bykerhd]

Low tech here also. I hand drilled through with a smaller size drill. About 1/2 way through from either side as I didn't trust myself to try all the way if the drill was off-center, canted or the bit wandered at all. That worked fine and then I opened up the hole a bit with another slightly larger drill, mushed in the rivet edges in to the hole, drilled some more, mushed some, repeated a couple times and then drove out the remnant of the rivet with a punch and hammer. No damage to the trunnion in the process. About 20 minutes or so for the second trunnion and a beer might have got tasted in there too.
Hot work, you know ?

[Eskimo Joe]

Originally posted by bykerhd
Low tech here also. I hand drilled through with a smaller size drill. About 1/2 way through from either side as I didn't trust myself to try all the way if the drill was off-center, canted or the bit wandered at all. That worked fine and then I opened up the hole a bit with another slightly larger drill, mushed in the rivet edges in to the hole, drilled some more, mushed some, repeated a couple times and then drove out the remnant of the rivet with a punch and hammer. No damage to the trunnion in the process. About 20 minutes or so for the second trunnion and a beer might have got tasted in there too.
Hot work, you know ?

Thanks guys:
I am ordering bits and etc from MSC and wondered about a carbide cuTTer which, I see you all dont use. So, maybe my next one will be easier. I will forgo cutting at this time Unless someone has experience. DOES HEATING WITH TORCH HELP GET THEM OUT?????
ej.

[owlcreekok]

DOES HEATING WITH TORCH HELP GET THEM OUT?????


Yes.