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Quality of work Pneumatic vs Hand Squeezers

GeoffH

Active Member
Hello, I've recent acquired a 2nd hand RV9 project. It came with a complete Avery Rv builders tool kit, included the Avery hand squeezer.

I've done lots of searching and reading about pneumatic squeezers, debating if it is something I should purchase. There is one question I have that cant seem to find much discussion about. Does the pneumatic squeezer produce a higher quality product then the hand squeezer? Perhaps the quality of work is more based on experience and setup the the type of squeezer? Is one more forgiving then the other?

I guess what I'm really getting at is other then the pneumatic being faster and single hand ease of use is there any reason not to solely use the hand squeezer?

Thanks
 
opinion

Either will work but I much prefer my pneumatic squeezer. As you said, single handed and faster. Good results are easily repeatable.

That being said, there are places where the hand squeezer seems to work better.

I have no regrets in buying the pneumatic squeezer and yokes...
 
I have both and like the one handed operation of the pneumatic squeezer. It leaves the other hand open to stabilizing the work. That being said it took me a little practice to get used to feathering the trigger on the pneumatic squeezer. At first I buggered up a few rivets by jamming down the trigger on the squeezer. Just like anything else, practice on some scrap first.

At the end of the day, I probably couldn't tell you which rivets I squeezed with the hand squeezer and which ones I used the pneumatic squeezer.
 
My pneumatic squeezer and hand squeezer are using the same yokes, so the added cost isn?t reallly that big.
 
I much prefer the pneumatic squeezer. I especially like clamping the squeezer into my table vise (grab it by the yoke), then having both my hands available for positioning and so forth until it's time to feather in the trigger.
 
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