Garden Railway Forum

Anybody got any advice on rivet embossing. I was thinking of buying a metalsmith press to do the rivets on my tin turtle kit but have seen various other devices out there and I am not sure what is the best way to go?

I use the end of my scribe to create the rivets on this wagon

That looks good.
I have used a punch before but have always struggled to get nice uniform rivets. It has never mattered with what I have done before, but I don't want to mess up 175 quids worth of kit.

I have a rivet embossing tool which is simply a pointed bar with a sliding weight which you raise and let go. In theory each drop produces the same indent in the material and it seems to work.
If you want to borrow this you are most welcome.

Thanks Peter, I'll be in touch when the my self imposed modelling ban is over. (only another 1500 words to go on my last essay before Christmas.......)

Peter Butler:106143 wrote:I have a rivet embossing tool which is simply a pointed bar with a sliding weight which you raise and let go.  In theory each drop produces the same indent in the material and it seems to work.

I made something similar from a piece of brass rod and some lead flashing - must admit I pinched the idea from a fellow modeller. http://riksrailway.blogspot.co.uk/2013/ ... icard.html

Something which I found helped to ensure the rivets were equally spaced was to sellotape a piece of graph paper to the plasticard and then prick pilot holes.



Rik

Big Jim:106137 wrote:Anybody got any advice on rivet embossing. I was thinking of buying a metalsmith press to do the rivets on my tin turtle kit but have seen various other devices out there and I am not sure what is the best way to go?

I would vote for the Metalsmith rivet press tool. I bought one and it is a brilliant addition to the workshop. I do not have a Tin Turtle but on such a high quality kit as that you would not regret buying the rivet press as you really can't go wrong using it for perfect rivet detail embossing. If you do use one of the more 'free-hand' methods do plenty of practice first!