How do I Put Rivets in a Part?

[SteveHGraham]

The saga of the $100 Hammond organ continues.

I heard a hooting sound from the tonewheel generator of the organ, so naturally I assumed it was a lack of oil in the vibrato scanner bearing. I took the scanner off and opened it up, and then I discovered the organ still made the noise, so the problem is somewhere else. BUT I found out that the cotton wicks that carry oil to the bearing were broken, and they have to be replaced.

Now to get to the part someone might actually understand.

The bearing is inside a housing held on by four small rivets. I would estimate they are around 1/8" in diameter. I have to drill them out, install the wick, and put in new rivets.

How do I put in new rivets? Is there a tool for it, and where do I get it?

I have eyelets for my tube amps, and they appear to be the same size. I may be able to use them instead.

[wsippola]

Not at all familiar with the internals of an organ. Rivets are often used because they are cheap, and the items riveted together are not intended to be dismantled. If you can't get in with a hammer and buck to set the rivets, it may be easier to use small nut and bolts / screws.

Rivets are also set be squeezing, or of course there's pop rivets. Are you familiar with pop rivets? The tool is cheap, the rivets are cheap, and can be found at any hardware store. They are not great rivets, but work just fine in low stress areas. They do come in better versions, right up to aircraft quality.

[PeteH]

I'd add that there are several different kinds of pop-rivet tools. THe cheap ones generally are made of stamped metal, and they're OK for working on large flat surfaces, but no good if you need to reach down inside the guts of a machine. The better ones have a long nose that will reach, and some of them even have the handles in the same axis as the rivet, so you don't need much side-clearance either.

[SteveHGraham]

It turned out I didn't need to remove the old rivets, but if that changes, I'm going to use small screws with kep nuts. I do not share Mr. Hammond's thriftiness.

Thanks for the tips.