First of all, nobody sells any rivets except blind rivets, which are the ones you use with a rivet gun. Those are handy for attaching things together, but they look like crap and they simply are not cool enough for my helmet! What I need are solid rivets, which I refer to as 'peen' rivets in my videos. . I do this because it sounds funnier.
My dad had some solid rivets lying around (I mean. . who doesn't?), but they were the wrong diameter. They were also aluminum. I tried to make these work, but they were simply too narrow and so they had to be really mashed a lot to fill the hole and it just wasn't working. It was good that I was able to try these though, as I decided to go with steel after finding the aluminum simply too malleable. Aluminum is a much softer metal than steel. This makes it easy to mold, but also harder to control. I found the aluminum prone to pancaking . .or squashing down too flat and losing that cool rivety bulge that I was looking for.
Anyway. . I finally just ordered a box of 100 steel rivets online from Jay-Cee Sales & Rivet Inc. (http://www.rivetsinstock.com/). 3/16" x 3/8" Pan-head steel solid rivets (Part #S0187P00375). These ended up working well, although they were still too long and I should have gone with 1/4" long. However, if you take my advice and use thicker steel for the frame, you'll want these 3/8" ones.
Also. .I tried polishing a panel and it was no use. It seems I am stuck with a lumpy "authentic" looking helmet. . (or am I? check back later for surprising news!). .
Before Polishing
After Polishing! What a difference!
Me talking about how well things are going on the Helmet.
I don't call it 'peening'. .I call it 'pancaking'
My attempt to make my wooden post work to back up my riveting.
(I eventually waved an affectionate goodbye to my post and got myself a shotput)
A solid rivet. This is one of the ones my dad gave me. Too thin. and too long [insert joke here].
The video
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