The riveting hammer is used to curl the ends of the tubing to meet the sheet metal. That cut on my finger was not done in the studio - yep, it was the kitchen.
This is the Universal Eyelet Setter making a flare in the tubing.
Continued from Part 4….
10) Flaring a Tube
Using a flaring tool, a brass or chasing hammer, and a steel anvil, begin to flare the tube on one side. With the flaring tool in place, lightly tap on the top side until you get a slight flare. The hammer blows should be light taps. Turn your piece over and repeat. As you work try to keep the height of the tubing equal on both sides. Continue tapping back and forth until the flared section is almost touching the sheet metal. Use your riveting hammer to gently curve the tubing completely over. Make sure there are no areas that have not flared down fully to the sheet metal. Leaving a gap between the rivet and the sheet metal invites all kinds of little fibers to get caught. If you have prong setting tools the final stages of flaring can be finished with these handy little tools. When the tubing is close to making contact with the sheet metal a prong setting tool can be used to complete, and nicely shape the tube rivet. Select a prong setting tool that just slips over the edges of the tubing.
These are the tools used in flaring a tube rivet. The prong setting tools are optional. Whoops - forgot the riveting hammer!
Flaring Tools
I use a Universal Eyelet Setter from Making Memories to make tube rivets of many sizes. Available at Amazon – Universal Eyelet Setter.
The Universal Eyelet Setter
You can also use dapping punches and other tools to flare.
Prong Setting Tools (also called Bezel Setting Tools). Available at our Jatayu online store – Bezel(Prong) Setting Tools.
The prong setting tool may be used in the final stage of flaring.
Tube Riveting a Curved Surface
It isn’t possible to tube rivet on flat metal and then shape it without distorting the metal. What is required is to shape the metal first and then rivet on a curved surface such as a horn anvil, a bracelet mandrel or a ring mandrel. It is trickier than working on flat sheet metal so try a curved surface once you are comfortable working flat.
~Connie
All images and text are ©Copyright 2010-2012 Connie Fox. All rights reserved.
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