Astro 1442 13" Nut/Thread Hand Riveter Kit

I had to repair the pillar grip of my 2003 Dodge Ram 2500. The fastener had gotten loose and the plastic finally broke completely off. I purchased a special repair kit from eBay but needed to completely replace the loose threaded nut that was factory riveted in the pillar. Removing it left a larger opening than I started with so I couldn't use a conventional nut and I needed a good riveter that was stout enough to use an oversized rivet and small enough to get into the space. This riveter met all my needs and continues to be useful. Since then I have replace all the nylon license plate nuts on my truck bumpers with good stainless steel nuts.

PROS: - This rivet nut setter comes in a nice plastic case with very detailed instructions, written in perfect English. - Includes a very good selection of rivet nuts and the adapters to install them - Works quite well - but I also reviewed several YouTube videos because I have never used this tool before, so a visual guide helped - If you do not have an impact driver, this is the next best tool because the do-it-yourself versions where you use nuts and bolts and spacers look good in the videos but don't work very well if you do many CONS: - could be a little bit stronger metal, built a little sturdier but for the price it is better than I expected - the instructions disagree on one point: they specify that the tool can be only be used up to a specific rivet nut size but in another section they offer to sell additional sizes of the installation parts to install rivet nuts larger than the size advised. Please see my attached video, where I show how I use this tool!

This is a great tool for the money. Honestly, I had no Idea this even existed. Drill a hole and press in the insert and then you can screw in a bolt? Ha! I have to have this! Long familiar with pop-rivets, I am using this to add off-road accessories, repair old equipment, and otherwise bolt down ornery objects. The tool itself seems decent quality and is up to the task. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of changing the mandrel. The instructions also make clear that you should use the little plastic boxes and keep the mandrels separate and organized so that sizes don't get mixed. Including six common sizes and a collection of inserts, this will get you started. This tool will get light use, but is easy to use and cheap enough to buy for the occasional job. If I were going to use this every day, I'd buy a better one and spend more. For around the home and farm use, it's good.

(see update below) The tool itself seems ok. Not wonderful quality but not quite Harbor Freight cheap. Make sure you thread the nuts all the way onto the mandrel, else it will rip out the threads. For the tool itself, I'd say it's a decent quality tool but the rivnuts could be better quality. I bought this at the end of April 2015, but didn't need it (or open the case) until today. I try to plan projects in advance so that I have the necessary tools when I need them. Here's the problem: When I opened the case, I found that the three SAE mandrels were not present. Yes, I probably should have opened the case when I got it, true. The rivet nuts were, but the mandrels weren't. So what, now I paid more for one that had both Standard and Metric mandrels, and I get one with just metric mandrels? What a rip off! I don't know if it's the fault of amazon or of Astro Pneumatic Tool, but amazon's crap return policy won't allow me to do anything now. And the worst part - I found this out June 1st; May 31st was the last day the return policy was available. Great. Thanks for not standing behind what you sell, amazon! Update June 2015: I was contacted by Astro Pneumatic, who (eventually) sent all the missing pieces in several different packages. Astro claimed they had no idea why the three standard ones were missing, but I suspect it was an error by whoever packaged it. No matter in the end, they all got here. As such, I updated the review from 1 star to 4 stars. I still feel like the rivnuts could be better quality, and now that I've used it a few times I'd say the tool itself is good quality.

As advertised. If you dont own one you are missing out on a quality tool.

Great product

I purchased this for my husband. We are in the process of rebuilding our wrecked truck and we needed to use this on our core support for the inter-cooler. There were open holes that were missing the flush mount rivets so by using this tool we were able to use the proper insert and install it with this riveter and then install the screw in bolt as needed. My Husband was quite shocked that a tool and inserts like this existed! He wanted to know why our truck manufacturer did not use these types of rivet inserts more on certain areas...the inter-cooler was one specific area. Very easy to use just choose the right rivet type insert and screw it onto the tool. Then open your tool so the arms are wide and insert that end into the hole and compress the tool using equal strength and straight on, do not try and insert at an angle. I think the price point is average and expected. Very lightweight tool just 3 lbs. Overall Height - Top to Bottom: -2 Inches. Overall Width - Side to Side: -7 Inches. Overall Depth - Front to Back: -18 Inches. I purchased this item full price. My opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any way for my thoughts.

I bought a 2001 Astro Cargo Van for a service truck, since the virus business has almost stopped. It doesn't have ladder racks on it and there is no gutter to mount any racks. Who ever had the van had the whole inside covered in plastic floor walls and ceiling and I didn't want to drill through the ceiling and have screws coming through to hit my head on. I was at a lost on how to do it. I carried it to a pro but was told I was looking at an easy thousand bucks. I went to u-tube and typed it in and saw them using bolt rivets, I had never seen that before. I ordered my racks everything came at the same time. I was still worried that the thin tin the bolt rivets would just pull through if I was to rough putting the ladder on top. At first I was worried about the tin roof. but a heavy flat metal bar about a 1/16" thick came for each stand it was meant to be put inside on the ceiling with locking nuts the #8 screws that came was 2" long and would not have reached through the plastic due to the rubber pads that came to be put on the roof. What I did was place the flat metal bar on the roof and marked it for the holes, I placed the bar on a 2 x 4 board drilled a wood screw through one of the holes and two on each side this kelp it from spinning while I drilled, I used a 7/16" drill bit to make the hole big enough for the rivet I drilled the first 7/16" hole on the roof loaded the rivet on the tool put it through the metal bar and roof and pulled the handles together that locked the bar to the roof reinforcing the thin roof metal I used the other hole in the bar as a guide to drill my other hole. Take my word for it that whole roof will come off before that rack will. I used thread lock on the screws. By the way I didn't have my rivet loaded right and it messed up I was sick but it drilled right out so don't worry if you do mess up just use the same bit you drilled the rivet hole with. Good luck.

I had been placing nutserts with the DIY method, using a long nut, and a star washer, etc... Really inexpensive, and it DOES work well. Look it up if you only need to place a few. However, as I was getting into more projects, I found myself placing more and more nutserts/rivnuts and was wasting time with that method, since it is fairly slow. I also found that it was more than a little finicky trying to place small 5mm nutserts as the DIY tool is pretty tiny, and the threads (0.8 pitch) are quite fine, and getting good hardness bolts to do the job is a pain. I bought this tool because I recognize the Astro Pneumatic name from other places, and because they are at least based in North America. I own plenty of tools from overseas, to be fair, but I also know some people who bought some of the less expensive nutsert tools which ended up snapping/stripping mandrels right away. Since almost all of the nutserts I have used in the past have been either 5mm or 6mm, I figured this tool should cover me for most of what I'm doing, and I really wasn't missing out not having a 3mm or 4mm mandrel. Package arrived next day, and I put it to work immediately placing a few 5mm nutsert. Holy smokes, it is soooo much faster than the DIY method I have been using, and the results are great. Tool seems well made, and changing the mandrels is fast and easy, no tools needed. Carrying case is a nice touch, and each mandrel comes in it's own little case. I've only used it the one day in the garage, but did place a pile of nutserts, and even used it to snug up a few of the ones I had previously placed but wasn't terribly confident about.... I can't speak to the $60-80 kits that are available, but givent the build quality of this tool, what I have heard about their customer service, and the availability of different mandrel kits if you need + replacement parts for the mandrels that come with it, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it again.

Muss sagen, es macht was es soll und ist sehr robust gefertigt. Habe einige Nieten damit verbaut und obwohl der Preis so günstig war, sehe ich keine Verschleisserscheinungen. Was mir aber bei einigen aufgefallen ist, ist die Tatsache das wenn die Nieten schon verpresst sind der Schraubkopf noch einmal runtergedreht wird und nochmal versucht wird die Niete nachzupressen was aber nicht mehr geht da die Klemmung der Niete am Anschlag ist. Das dann das Gewinde des Dorns irgendwann nachgibt ist klar. Oder wie der Handwerker sagen würde: Nach fest kommt ab.

Una herramienta de excelente calidad. Fácil de utilizar y manipular. Cumplió mis expectativas. Me fué de gran utilidad en el trabajo que realicé con ella.

Reliable

Hat seinen Zweck vollkommen erfüllt. Ich hatte bedenken bei dem niedrigem Preis. Angenehm überrascht