Time to buck rivets. I enjoy all of the methods of riveting, but have had very inconsistent results bucking universal (vs flush) rivets. I get smileys sometimes and sometime not, but I couldn't tell what the problem was. So it was with some trepidation that I started bucking the clusters of universals that are at the base of each gear tower - see photos. Well after a decent start I started to get inconsistent again, I tried tightening the beehive spring, but that only took all of the impulse out of the gun - no good. I then went back to the technique I used for flush riveting - masking tap on the end of the 'set' (attachment that goes in the gun). That worked perfect as long as I kept the tape changed every 5 or 6 rivets, I got very consistent results. I knew it was time to change tape when some of the glue from the tap ended up on the rivet or worse the rivet head had shiny spots from the 'set' jumping around indicating the tape isn't providing adequate grip. Good learning session and got most of the way through the rivets in both left and right gear towers.
Bucking n shooting the universal rivets into the gear tower.
