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Blue Crab · 14-11-2015, 09:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by TKDSailor

Yep. For a Cal 29, clamp that sucker to the mast, drill two holes, and pop rivet it so that the part doesn't move, then drill all the other holes and pop rivet them. Just make sure you use the right length of Pop rivet! I'm all for lubing up the hole with the correct fluid, and tapping it good, but in this case, where the mast is not more than 1/4" thick, the pop rivets will do a better job, IMHO.

Thx. That's my thinking too. When one of the original screws came free, I thought I heard a nut drop, but that was the only one I heard.

Riveting it will be.

**HappyMdRSailor** · 14-11-2015, 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

Thx. That's my thinking too. When one of the original screws came free, I thought I heard a nut drop, but that was the only one I heard.

Riveting it will be.

It's really difficult to leave the juvenile comments behind... Oh dear...

Your mast wall thickness is only 0.100... Unless you were willing to sneak a backing plate or washers/nuts inside the stick... (yea easy huh...)

I'd say rivet that sucker and be done with it!

Cheechako · 14-11-2015, 12:00

And e Monel or SS Rivets! Uh oh... here we go!

Cadence · 14-11-2015, 12:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulajayne

Does not " A hand job" mean the same in the States as it does in the UK?

You bet!

Cadence · 14-11-2015, 12:32

Boy! This has been all of the place. Tapping, what and how thick? By machine or by hand? Two or four fluted tapes. Now to pop rivets. I may be wrong but think welding was missed.

Blue Crab · 14-11-2015, 12:47

Fun stuff. Thanks.

**roverhi** · 14-11-2015, 13:22

Have been drilling and tapping fasteners into masts for awhile and have never had one pull out. It's quite often the opposite where you have to work at loosening them up.

Have had pop rivets get loose though not pull completely out. One fastener that is almost guaranteed to fail are sheet metal screws.

Cadence · 14-11-2015, 13:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by roverhi

Have been drilling and tapping fasteners into masts for awhile and have never had one pull out. It's quite often the opposite where you have to work at loosening them up.

Have had pop rivets get loose though not pull completely out. One fastener that is almost guaranteed to fail are sheet metal screws.

Probably so. Sheet metal screws are tapered. They bite great.

GrahamHO · 14-11-2015, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

Thx. That's my thinking too. When one of the original screws came free, I thought I heard a nut drop, but that was the only one I heard.

Riveting it will be.

We were talking hand tapping but pop rivets are fasteners too and another option to consider. On problem with tapping holes in masts is SS / Aluminum corrosion. Monel pops are better in that regard, but they might be holding a SS fitting which can cause also corrosion. In either case it's best to use a corrosion inhibiter. I use Duralac which I first came across on seaplanes. Sometimes I use Loctite on a bolt in a threaded mast / boom hole. That will protect the threads from corrosion too. There are other products too. I dip a rivet into Duralac before "popping" it. It can make little mess but so can corrosion.

When you have 2 or more holes to rivet in one fitting, drill one hole and put a rivet in it without "popping" it. Then drill the most distant one and put a rivet in that hole, without "popping" it. You can repeat as necessary and have "unpopped" rivets in each hole to keep it lined up as you pop them one by one. For riveting in aircraft there are Clico temporary fasteners which do the same job a little quicker using Clico pliers.

I have a halyard turning block to put in my mast soon. It can either use a 6mm (1/4") pop rivets or 6 mm threaded cap screws. Pop rivets would be better but because I'll be sitting in a bosons chair above the shrouds, I'll hand thread and use cap screws in the holes because of the difficulty of using a 1/4" hand rivet gun up there and getting enough pressure on it. The 1/4"rivet guns need a great deal of pressure with Monel rivets. I will probably use Loctite on those screws, or maybe Duralac.

On my vintage steel framed racing bike I wanted to fit a drink holder on the frame. The steel is very thin and I couldn't fit a pop rivet gun in so I threaded the holes perhaps only 1 turn and used some super Loctite on the cap screws. It is perfectly strong now. I could optionally have used epoxy glue on the threads.