Eyelet board tools

[Aurora]

I just turned a small flaring tool out of a 3/8 bolt, - insert several eyelets, place the board upside down on a piece of steel plate, - some gentle taps with a hammer, - and voila.... For turrets, one needs a correctly sized die to support the turret, but otherwise, the hammer trick works equally well...

[Mac Dillard]

That is what I did. FWIW, Hoffman over at EL34 world sells a set of flaring tools for both eyelets and turrets..Pretty cheap.

[pjd3]

Sure some very interesting eyelet pressing tools.

For starters I'm just going to try the barbaric approach and see how I do with staking tool and hammer, find the appropriate "staking procedure". Hopefully I won't have to sacrifice too many eyelets and board real estate to get there!

Thanks everyone, good stuff.

Phil D.

[martin manning]

I find a conical center punch makes a fine tool for flaring eyelets. You need this for drilling chassis anyway.

[Aurora]

I actually use a center punch first, to start an outward flare, then the little tool I made, which folds them down...

[pjd3]

I have a center punch like that. Could also experiment in the fashion that you do your eyelets, get the flare going a little bit and finish off with the staking tool. See it that makes for a cleaner result. Fun with eyelets.

Thanks
Phil D