Odd rivetting requirement ?

[robkgraham]

My wife teaches in a multi-handicap blind school and has heard of a good sound stimulus consisting of a cymbal which has had holes drilled in it and rivets then fitted such that they are loose and apparantly make good sound when the cymbal is struck. To add to the noise small chains can be fitted through the rivets.

Rather her than me in the classroom ! ....But I need suggestions as to what sort of rivets. The cymbal is brass and .85mm thick. Pop rivets come to mind but I haven't used them for ages and can't amongst other things remember if they are hollow once fixed - and then also what size for such thin material ?

Rob

[Cicero]

================== Possibly 'bifurcate' rivets. These are the kind of two-legged rivets used in leatherwork. You can see them holding straps on cases, bags etc. The 'legs' are inserted into a hole and then hammered flat. If you put a spacer in you could probably make them a loose fit in the cymbal.

Cic.

[Andrew Mawson]

drilled

small

rivets

other

Rob,

From your description they sound more like the 'eyelets' that you can get to put a 'lined hole' in fabric (big ones used in tarpaulins for ropes)

They consist of two brass pieces that fit either side of the material and are swaged together with a punch device. If not fully swaged they will rattle as described, and have a clear through hole, unlike a pop rivet where the 'snap off head' of the mandrel stays in the fixing.

AWEM

[Rolyata]

Cymbals that I've seen like that ( from memory ) seem to have small brass rivets, the sort where you have a round head pre-formed on one side and require the use of a rivet set to form a round head on the other side.

To allow movement, the rivet is in a very loose hole and the closing of the rivet is done in such a way that it's not tight against the cymbal, but rattles around.

When I did things like that for model making, it was a common trick to cut a washer out of very coarse sandpaper, thread it over the rivet ( probably over just the pre-formed head side, but maybe both ) and then tear the sandpaper washer away afterwards, leaving a small gap between the rivet and the work.

[Dave]

Pop rivets will not be a good choice. They are made from either monel metal or aluminium. Neither of these metals will match the brass (resonance) of a cymbal.

I would go for a

4mm hole and a 3.2mm brass rivet 6.4mm hole and a 4mm brass rivet 8mm hole and a 6.4mm brass rivet

(all depending on the size of the cymbal) etc. Lightly tapped so that neither end can get out of the hole.

If you find that a rivet will not move in the hole, then you have hit it too much, or it was too short.

As to the chain, I suspect that this will be on the upper surface of the cymbal, overhanging, and would have to be put there when the rivets were added. The chain loop could be attached to the cymbal by the shank of the rivet. Either by looping the chain across the rivets temporarially, or permanantly, by ensuring that it was fixed there when the rivets were put in.

All in all, a simple job. The worst bit would be the drilling and de-burring of the holes in the cymbal.

Dave

[bigcat]

drilled

rivets

in case you dont want to buy the eyelet equipment, miniature nut and bolt might work, watchmakers stuff. 1/8th drop of glue on the bolt thread

NT

[Derek *]

If it's not a highly critical application why not try split pins.

DG

[Richard Grenfell]

We have used small nut and bolts that are not tightned much. Can't remember if we used nylok nuts or just normal ones with a blob of glue. this was on buckets for a show

HTH

Richard

[Rob Morley]

I'd try something like split or semi-tubular copper rivets, about

2.5-3mm thick with a 2.5-3mm finished shaft length in 3-4mm holes.

I don't know if these people will do small quantities, but it might be worth asking them -