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Mandrels

Has anyone come up with anything creative to do with all the leftover mandrels from all of the pull rivets? I’ve been collecting them along the way and now that I’m getting close to the bottom of the box, not sure what to do with them other than recycling them to collect about 6 bucks.
 
This post reminded me that I was obsessed with picking them up off my hangar floor after each operation so they wouldn’t end up in my tires!
 
I keep a handful in my tool box; they're perfect for tapping out the ball on a set blind rivet before drilling it out. Also good for other various punch duties.
 
I have mine all saved up for some kind of resin encased small furniture project once the airplane is done. Before the airplane my big hobby was woodworking, mostly fine furniture. All that equipment is mothballed right now but once the -12 is done it comes back out for sure. I'm not really a fan of all the popular resin stuff these days, but I can live with it for this application. I haven't decided exactly what, maybe a small table for the hangar or a foot stool around the house. Good conversation piece.
 
Easy pick-up with a magnet on a stick!

Nope - at least not the stainless ones you get with a Sonex kit….. The little wheeled magnet thingy from HF just pushes them around while they laugh….

What to do with them? Collect them all in a large clear plastic “jar” that come filled with snacks from COstco. Donate it to your EAA chapter as the centerpiece of a “guess how many rivets go into a <insert your favorite pulled-rivet Homebuilt> “ contest!

Paul
 
I have mine all saved up for some kind of resin encased small furniture project once the airplane is done. Before the airplane my big hobby was woodworking, mostly fine furniture. All that equipment is mothballed right now but once the -12 is done it comes back out for sure. I'm not really a fan of all the popular resin stuff these days, but I can live with it for this application. I haven't decided exactly what, maybe a small table for the hangar or a foot stool around the house. Good conversation piece.

I had a similar idea…. Was considering a resin covered workpiece for the shop.
 
"What to do with them? Collect them all in a large clear plastic “jar” that come filled with snacks from COstco. Donate it to your EAA chapter as the centerpiece of a “guess how many rivets go into a <insert your favorite pulled-rivet Homebuilt> “ contest!"
Quite a marvelous idea Paul!! I'll pass the idea to my flight club and put them in a container right away!
Glad I saved them, anyway.
it sort of, dunno, makes me trustworthy ;-)
 
Each rivet in that jar should represent a portion of a man hour of labor spent deburring, clecco'ing, and pulling rivets.

Then you'll know, approximately how many man hours are represented in that jar, building your plane productively.
 
I have mine all saved up for some kind of resin encased small furniture project once the airplane is done. Before the airplane my big hobby was woodworking, mostly fine furniture. All that equipment is mothballed right now but once the -12 is done it comes back out for sure. I'm not really a fan of all the popular resin stuff these days, but I can live with it for this application. I haven't decided exactly what, maybe a small table for the hangar or a foot stool around the house. Good conversation piece.

You could use your wood working skills to make some wall art with the mandrels featured. Something along the line of routing some large numbers/letters for your N-number that can handle a bunch of mandrels as a fill-in material. You could use resin to hold them in place. If you rout the full depth of the board, you could also backlight the N-number for something really different.

I turned my next to last panel cut into wall art. 1/2" MDF painted black with 10 coats of clear ploy (wet sanded and polished), 1/2" AL U channel (polished and coated w/clear ploy) for the frame and rivets epoxied in place.

John Salak
RV-12 N896HS
 

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