286 Rivets, Part 2

When I dropped-off the Tray Assembly "clams" and some paint peelings (for color match) with my painter, he wasn't too surprised that the paint had peeled-off like it did. Apparently old lacquer paint will do this on occasion, and he even had a term for it. Which I promptly forgot....

Regardless, as I mentioned at the end of the previous post, I wasn't able to locate any "hollow" rivets like Rockola used originally (but if someone reading this knows what they are, and where I can find them, please contact me!), but I was able to find a supplier who had rivets that are "close enough":

http://www.hansonrivet.com/

With the help of the good folks at Hanson Rivets, I found tubular rivets with the correct dimensions and finish to reassemble not only the Tray Assemblies, but also the Program Holder ("Title Strip") Assemblies, which I'll cover in the next post.

However, tubular rivets are not something that can be installed with a standard rivet gun, and I had to also purchase this:

An HR-141 Manual Bench Riveter, which cost me $325.00! $325.00! For a one-time tool, for installing only 371 rivets (286 Tray Assembly rivets + 85 Title Holder rivets)! I also had to buy the correct Squeezer Dies and Rivet Clinchers for each size of rivet I intended to use.....as well as the actual rivets.....

(My bank account: "Ouch!")

Thankfully my wife (The Voice of Reason) reminded me once again that if I didn't do it "right", I wouldn't like the results, so....

(Hopefully I can use this tool to help-out other jukebox restorers. If not, most likely I'll sell it on eBay someday.)

Anyway, with the re-painted clams, the correct rivets, and the right tools, installation was a piece of cake!

Here's a close-up shot of the Squeezer Dies:

The top die, which is smooth and concave, accepts the "head" of the rivet, while the other die, shown below, has a button, or guide pin, which, when force is applied to the rivet, guides the hollow end of the rivet "out" and "around" upon itself.

Expensive (for only 371 rivets), but pretty slick!

In-use shot:

And final result:

(Pay no attention to that empty Newcastle bottle!)

Tray Assemblies with Keepers, required different (longer) rivets, with larger diameter heads, but the process was the same:

My only issue on these, the rivets with larger heads (the "Keeper Rivets", if you will) is that the Squeezer Die left some marks on the heads. But since the rivets were just a "skosh" too long, and I had to give them a little extra "oomph" to get them to seat, I guess this is a minor quibble only.

There may be a larger diameter "head die" available for these rivets, but given that I'm sure these marks will not be noticeable once the Record Magazine is installed, I didn't take the time to ask.

And there we have it: Qty (26) Tray Assemblies, ready for installation into the Record Magazine!

Feels good! Feels real good!

In the next post I'll show the assembly of the Program Holders.