Dummy rivets

[MikeWilliams]

Speaking personally, the plate girder is typical of probably thousands of bridges all over the UK, whereas Warren trusses like that were used, but in far smaller numbers.  A curved truss would also look nice, but I guess more expensive to make and less modular.

Yes, way off-topic, but that's the Administrators' problem!

Mike

I see no problem.....chat as much as you like!!  JC(Admin)

[webbo546]

As a new member and moving up from 0 gauge I have mostly used the rivets from scale hardware, they also do hex and square headed dummy bolt heads, all in varying sizes. They are packed in 100's and work out cheaper than the ones from Eileens etc, but the only problem is, they are from the states and take about 2 weeks to arrive.
All you have to do is drill the holes, put in whatever you want to use and solder into place, if using the false bolt heads you can put a BA nut on the other end and solder into place.
Alan

[Geoff Nicholls]

I've just googled scale hardware and the site is first on the list, looks interesting. And I like the way they give full dimensions. Two weeks is not long to wait.
thank you for posting that info.

[andrewfoster]

As a new member and moving up from 0 gauge I have mostly used the rivets from scale hardware, they also do hex and square headed dummy bolt heads, all in varying sizes. They are packed in 100's and work out cheaper than the ones from Eileens etc, but the only problem is, they are from the states and take about 2 weeks to arrive.
All you have to do is drill the holes, put in whatever you want to use and solder into place, if using the false bolt heads you can put a BA nut on the other end and solder into place.
Alan

It's quite easy to make a real, rather than dummy rivet if you have access to the back of the workpiece. An ordinary carpenter's nail set held in a drill press (or by hand, using a small hammer) with a rigid anvil behind it, gives excellent results.  The pictures show how I first did it, which works perfectly well for small quantities, and how I altered it after the drill table suffered a fatigue failure, some thousands of rivets later.   If you develop this addictive vice of riveting you will soon have a wonderful collection of odd shaped bits of steel for anvils.

You can make small brass rivets quite easily from escutcheon pins that should be more readily available than finished rivets. The supplier I use lists them from .049" to .084" dia. I don't use them much, as they can be quite hard and more troublesome to form well. If you solder them, that's not a problem, of course.

Andrew