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I seem to have made it to adulthood without ever having had to drill out a rivet.
My garden dining table is held together by rivets (table folds). It's off to be powdercoated, so I need to remove the round (universal?) rivets that pin together the hinges.
Plan is to centre punch the head to get something for a drill bit to grip, and then slowly drill it out using larger and larger bits.
Tips?
Good plan. Rivets are fairly soft, so if you get a decent punch hole, you'll not need larger and larger bits. You only need to go to the size of the rivet shaft, not the whole head,(once you have the head off, knock the rest out with your punch) your way is probably safer, but a bit slower.
tthew - cheers. At least I haven't suffered a complete man-fail....
If the head doesn't come off don't worry. A chisel/ flat head screwdriver tapped from the side will easily remove the head.
Assume after drilling...?
I'd grind the heads off then punch them through
I have nothing to grind them with - just have a drill.
Yes. This way you don't have to drill the full diameter if the rivet.
e.g. If rivet is 6mm internal then drill 4mm at it will just tap off. This way you won't damage the hole and will make re-riveting easier.
Ah, but what about re-riveting? (or do you just plan on using nuts'n'bolts?)
Gotcha. Cheers. (suspect I'll cheat in the future and bolt it up)