Starting to Rivet, on site



Bruce Dudley will be manning the oven. "Air" courtesy of OC Transpo's compressor.

Although the group had started to rivet the bolsters and other parts of the car body, now it was the time to start on the heavy duty riveting.  This job primarily consists of the construction of the main car body.  The previous photos that I have posted showed the car side(s) erect but they were only bolted together. This aided in the drilling and reaming of the hundreds of holes needed to construct the car body.

The key to "hot riveting" is having rivets that are "hot'. The idea is not just have them red hot on the outside but you want to have them red hot in the middle of the rivet also.  This means "baking" the rivet so the heat is even through out the rivet.  One also has to be careful not to end up melting or burning the rivets. 



WARNING! Hot,very,very hot!

From the oven to a hole in the side of the car.

...and another one.



...another one,up close.



Rhéaume and Pete with the bucking tool, Georg with the riveting gun.

 



Hot,smelly and noisy...why I enjoy riveting!             Photo by Bruce Dudley



The above work was completed in June 2008, there still remains a few small hot riveting jobs to be completed plus removing/replacing a couple of poorly done or loose rivets on the sides of the car.

With the bulk of the riveting done, Georg will return rebuilding the trucks, Rhéaume will resume working on the car body and I will start rebuilding and installing components on the under body of the car, before Mike wants to install the floor.