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Riv-Nuts


simonr

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I dare say most of you have come across Riv-Nuts?

They are the most fantastic way of securing something with a bolt to something else where you cannot get at the other side to hold the nut still.

A good example is bolting stuff to the engine side of the bulkhead of a 90/110.

They are essentially a pop-rivet with a thread down the middle rather than the bit that the rivet tool pulls out.

7098_la.jpg

I think the long rod in the middle of this photo is some kind of insertion tool? Photo stolen from someone elses site!

I was wanting to supply a thing which needs to bolt on in this way where access to the back is a right PITA. Riv-Nut tools are expensive and I needed to be able to supply one for free!

What I've come up with by a bit of trial & error is the following. I'm using M8, but it will work equally well for any size.

1. Drill the thread out of an M8 nut.

2. Thread on to M8 bolt

3. Screw all the way in to riv-nut

4. Insert assembly in to pre-drilled hole 11.5 or 12mm for M8

5. Turn bolt whilst holding drilled nut still using two 13mm spanners.

6. Continue untill it becomes harder to turn (you can feel a change when the riv-nut is fully in)

Works a treat!

Now you can use riv-nuts and not have to shell out £50 (or a lot more) on a riv-nut tool!

Si

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1. Drill the thread out of an M8 nut.

2. Thread on to M8 bolt

3. Screw all the way in to riv-nut

4. Insert assembly in to pre-drilled hole 11.5 or 12mm for M8

5. Turn bolt whilst holding drilled nut still using two 13mm spanners.

errr, you've lost me at step 2. Once you've drilled the thread out of the nut, how can you thread it, it has no thread from step 1 :blink:

Surely your bolt is a poor man's puller so at step 5, you need to put another nut on the other side of the work piece to screw against?

Is it just me that can't visualise this? :angry:

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I've just done this sort of thing putting external door hasps on.

Using M6 rivnuts (or nut-serts) and M6 machine screw.

I wanted to came up with a way of doing it so the rivnut didn't rotate, to that end, i threaded a 1/4" socket onto the bolt, as well as a nut, a couple of washers, and then the rivnut.

When i tried it without all that, the rivnut started to rotate off the bolt.

holding both the grips and the ratchet still, turning the spanner clockwise compressed the rivnut without rotating it, job done!

rivnut1.jpg

rivnut2.jpg

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got it now I thnk.... as you do up the bolt, the rivnut body barrels out to grip in the hole?

I've used some lightl different ones, a rivet with a nut on the end. It goes in a hole up to the hsoulder then a ball bearing or rounded off nail is used to flatten the rivet part.

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The idea is that the nut with the middle drilled out performs the same job as the socket above - just a tube you can grip to stop it rotating. You hold the nut stationary and do up the bolt. Because there is no thread in the nut, the bolt pulls the riv-nut in.

The advantage of mine is you don't need three hands! Just one to hold one spanner still while you turn the bolt with the other. Using the design above, you need one to hold the grips, one to hold the nut and the other for the bolt.

I guess you could use a small spark-plug socket in place of the nut as they usually have a hex on the outside which you could hold with a spanner.

Si

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Si,

I think the flaw in this is you are reliant in the rivnut not revolving so that it can be screwed in by the bolt.

By using the three handed approach with the sleeve and threaded nut you are turning the nut against the bolt to compress the rivnut and it doesn't really matter too much if the rivnut revolves while you are doing this.

Not sure why you need to hold the sleeve though. I'd have thought a two handed approach with a rachet spanner on the nut (which you wind in to compress the rivnut) and a simple spanner to stop the bolt turning would be a pretty quick simple approach.

Of course I've never done this but that's how I understand it. :P

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you can hold the grips and the ratchet in the same hand :P

If you dont' hold the socket still, as the nut tightens up, it spins the socket, which spins the rivnut, which then doesn't compress as its spinning.

Also, the thread on the M6 bolt suffers a bit, i got through two bolts inserting 6 rivnuts.

worked for me though, and a lot cheaper than the £80 ish tool

Luke

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  • 3 months later...
Are the rivet nuts used alumimium or steel, just wondering if the home made bolt tool is strong enough for steel ones?

They can be either. Avdel for example do rivnuts in steel, stainless steel and aluminium alloy, see:

http://www.avdel.textron.com/

Normally, I'd expect you to be supplied with steel rivnuts unless you'd specifically asked for SS or Alu.

FWIW I'd expect a home-made bolt tool to be just fine on steel rivnuts -- certainly no worse than the low-end hand tools you get from the likes of RS etc :angry::lol:

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I'm looking to buy a Rivnut tool. (I just can't seem to be able to do the 'nut and bolt' thingy)

Ennyway - Rivnut tool that will do M4, M5, and M6 is not too expensive - £30 or thereabouts, depending on make.

But I need one that'll do M8, and Mr Rivnut tool maker knows this, so a two-handled one that does M8 is flippin £80 :o:o:o:o

Inserts are steel for this one. I didn't know you could get alloy ones.

Les. :)

(rivnut tool hire Co)

Edited by Les Henson
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I'm looking to buy a Rivnut tool. (I just can't seem to be able to do the 'nut and bolt' thingy)

Ennyway - Rivnut tool that will do M4, M5, and M6 is not too expensive - £30 or thereabouts

Les -- I bought an M8 mandrel separately for my bog-standard £30 hand-tool. Think I got it from RS -- I'll check when I get home and confirm.

Only problem is that the £30 hand-tool is only just capable of fitting the M8 rivnuts (it's a bit of a struggle) IMHO which is why they probably don't supply M8 mandrels as standard with this tool :o Probably better with the long handled type if there's a lot of M8 rivnuts to be fitted.

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Well I need to move the fuel filter to the drivers side on catflap so I don't have to chop fule lines about, so that's two! :o

Les. :)

Les,

I've got one that does upto M10...

If you were closer you could borrow it if needed (will speak to you later on MSN)

Same as the one featured in this months LRO (I think) advertised at £90 ish, but I can them for less than that !!! (About £70 ish I think - need to check)

Ian

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Well I need to move the fuel filter to the drivers side on catflap so I don't have to chop fule lines about, so that's two! :o

Les. :)

They are a special fitment from Landrover - they're not rivnuts IIRC, but a captive alloy nut that is conical and breaks as its fitted.

Cheers

Pete

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