This is a fairly straightforward restoration of a Chicago Pneumatic 4X Aero pneumatic riveter. This belonged to my late grandfather. My grandmother gave me this pneumatic riveter along with another one that belonged to my grandfather. My grandfather was a pilot. He was briefly in the Marines but spent the majority of his military tenure with the US Air Force. At one point in his life, he befriended a couple of fellow pilots and they went in thirds on purchasing/building a Piper Cub airplane. I fully suspect that this riveter was used during the building of that airplane. Sadly, my grandfather got orders to be stationed elsewhere and had to sell his third to the two friends before the plane could be completed.
This riveter and the other, along with some other odds and ends, were in a steel tub that had obviously gotten wet at one point. Everything that was in it was extremely rusty; fortunately not to the point of no return, though. All of the various riveting bits (not pictured) cleaned up very nicely. There are around 20 different bits.
I fully submerged the riveter in a bucket of diesel for two weeks. Before doing this, hooking the riveter up to an air supply the tool was completely unresponsive and nonworking. The initial cleanup that I did on this tool was with a wire wheel, mounted in a bench grinder. I utilized this technique for all of the bits (with great success) as well as with the "nose" of the tool itself. For the "handle" portion of the tool, I first started with the wire wheel in the bench grinder. I then graduated a very abrasive 36 grit disc on a high-speed pneumatic sander. I was able to get all of the deep cuts and nicks out of the metal using this. After that, I focused on smoothing out the sanding marks from the 36 grit disc. I sanded with 80 grit on a dual-action pneumatic sander and then 180 grit. I didn't have anything in between, so I then went straight to a 600 grit sandpaper on a pneumatic disc sander. Ideally, I would have had something in between a 180 grit and 600 grit. I made quite a few passes and used quite a few discs with the 600. I was very satisfied with how smooth the finish was and decided to stop there. I finished up the handle portion of the tool by hand-rubbing on some metal polish. I used Brasso multi-purpose metal polish.
Also, the spring retainer on the end of the tool was missing. I ordered a replacement from Amazon and it fits the tool and bits perfectly. (Part number 2050525333 and ASIN B07B7MFH56).
Thanks for watching!
