Riveting Air Pressure Information and Tables. « Anthony's RV-4

This information has been deliberately plagiarised from Bill Repucci’s excellent website. I wanted to create my own set of tables so Bill’s info makes a good start and I will modify the settings to what is good for my compressor/gun combo.

Here is Bill’s info:

Suggested Operating Pressures

As I mentioned, I use different operating air pressures at the rivet gun for various different sizes of rivets and material. I put this table of information together based on my experience. Keep in mind that I use an Avery 3X rivet gun, and that your results may vary (some builders opt for a 2X gun, which may behave very differently). Also, you can vary the duration of driving the rivet to compensate for pressure in many cases. For example, instead of cranking the psi up, you can drive the rivet for a longer period of time. Anyway, here are the “baseline” settings I use for reference:

AN426 Rivets:

Rivet Type	Air Pressure	Duration
AN426AD3-3 to 3-4	34 psi	1 second
AN426AD3-4.5 to 3-5	37 psi	1 ½ seconds
AN426AD3-6 plus	40 psi	1 ½ seconds
AN426AD4-4 to 4-5	45 psi	1 second
AN426AD4-6 to 4-9	50 psi	1 ½ to 2 seconds

AN470 Rivets:

Rivet Type	Air Pressure	Duration
AN470AD4-4 to 4-5	60 psi	1 second
AN470AD4-6 to 4-7	60 psi	1 ½ seconds
AN470AD4-8 to 4-9	75 psi	1 ½ seconds
AN470AD4-9 plus	80 psi	1 ½ to 2 seconds