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Swapped from pneumatic rivet guns to battery-powered after fighting with hoses one too many times | Aircraft Mechanics - Talk Freely

markhall•5mo ago

Swapped from pneumatic rivet guns to battery-powered after fighting with hoses one too many times

I was always a die-hard pneumatic guy. Thought batteries were for toys. Then last month I was doing a skin panel on a CRJ out on the ramp in 95 degree heat and kept tripping over the air hose, having to swap fittings, and dealing with the compressor cycling on and off. A buddy let me borrow his Ingersoll Rand battery rivet gun for one row of rivets. I got through 40 rivets on one battery charge and the pull force felt just as good as my pneumatic. I switched that same week after 12 years of using air tools. Anyone else made the jump and found a model that holds up on heavy gauge aluminum?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordang324mo ago

Man, grab a backup battery and never look back, it's worth the switch.

alicew685mo ago

Well I was so stubborn about pneumatics that I kept an air hose wrapped around my leg for three weeks before admitting batteries had gotten good. That Ingersoll Rand model has been through a dozen heavy aluminum jobs so far without whining, but I also keep a spare battery in my pocket like a grownup version of carrying spare socks. Honestly I just got tired of wrestling hoses more than I got tired of swapping a battery every hundred rivets.

hart.mark5mo ago

Whoa, hold up. I mean, I get the appeal of ditching hoses in that kind of heat, but I'm still not totally sold on battery powered stuff for heavy gauge work. Idk, maybe the Ingersoll Rand is a different beast, but I've seen too many battery guns leave a rivet partially set or struggle on .063 aluminum or thicker. Plus you're swapping batteries every so often which can be just as annoying as swapping fittings if you're doing a long run. I'd rather just deal with the hose and know my gun is never going to quit on me halfway through a line.