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Some time ago I purchased a very badly made laser cutter/engraver. It had never worked from time of purchase and the build quality was horrendous. I took it on as a project and it involved a total strip down and rebuild both electrically and mechanically. The chassis was mostly made from 0.8mm mild steel and it was necessary to screw things like power supplies, cable clamps and the digital signal processor to the chassis. In some cases access to the back side of the chassis was impossible and I disliked the idea of using pop rivets in case it was ever necessary to remove some components. What I really wanted was a rivnut setting tool so that the threaded fasteners could be installed in the thin sheet metal. It was only after I finished the laser project that I really took an interest in acquiring the rivnut tool. Imagine my shock and horror when I realised how much they cost. Over $250 for a good one! I had a close look at how they worked and the simplest type is operated by a screw mechanism which pulls up on the bottom of the blank rivnut and deforms a swaged ring around the back side of the sheet metal. I had seen lots of variations on various websites, forums and on YouTube. Most worked well but they had the look of a quick lash up rather than a finished tool. The one that I built was made from CrMo bar stock and some high tensile hex head bolts. The only other thing I needed to purchase were some needle roller thrust bearings. Having finished the tool the immediate need for it had passed and so I put it away thinking I would have it next time I needed it. Well, it sat in the drawer for nearly two years and just yesterday I fished it out so I could fit some M6 steel rivnuts in the end housing of a small 250W induction motor. Guess what? It worked perfectly.
Here is the link to the build video and I will post the other project soon. It's a wood to metal bandsaw conversion which at this time is around 75% complete.
Cheers,
Mark Presling
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