Good idea, poor execution. The metal its made out of is extremely brittle (maybe its a badly cast zinc alloy?) and blackens everything it touches. First use I tried to set a 8/32 RivNut in .10 inch metal. Got about halfway up the ramp and the threaded part shattered like glass. Go ahead, buy one to support the Patent, but then find a friendly machine shop to replicate it for you in steel or hard aluminum so its actually a usable tool.

Read the overall reviews and thought this would be a good light duty tool for dealing with sheetmetal work. Heh, on the very first RivNut (8-32 in 1/16 steel, so not a heavy insert at all), the top slider shattered like glass at the turnbolt threading. I was able to brace it with a 5/8 crowfoot and get the four RivNuts set, but once I pulled the crowfoot off, it fell into shards. Going to take it to the local machine shop and see if they can mill one out in steel versus porous pot-metal. Buy it to support the patent, then heigh yourself down to your friendly neighborhood machinist to get a real tool made.

Very compact and simple to use. The top washer was too soft and collapsed from the pressure so I replaced it with a steel washer which solved the problem. It worked great for me as I only had a couple of 10-32 rivet nuts to install.

Great little tool. Simple to use. I needed to install some metric Riv-nuts and the metric version was a week away, so purchased a couple metric allen head bolts and worked a charm. Easier to use than the other types of Riv-nut tools and takes up little space. All my Riv-nuts and the tool are now in a small sealed divided case and ready to go in moments. Will still buy the metric unit, incase someone needs to borrow one.

I had to set one rivnut. It worked for that. So I am happy. The unit might pull 2 or 3 more rivnuts of each size before failure. I will buy a proper tool if I have to set many more. The problem is with an aluminum bushing that centers the black bolt while the rivnut is being pulled. I could hear clicks as the main squeezing bolt was being turned. Clicks were the black bolt threads destroying the bushing as it is forced upwards. Inherent in the design are lateral forces on the bushing resulting from the wedge attempting to create an axial force on the black pulling bolt. I read other posts before using, so I polished the bearing surfaces in an attempt to avoid problems others had experienced. I used a light green anodized aircraft aluminum rivnut.

This rivnut tool is cheap, compact, and is no drama to use. Ive tried it on 10-32 rivnuts in both aluminum and steel, and they both work flawlessly. The body of the tool seems to be made of zincalloy (it might just be die cast aluminum, its hard to tell), so Im hesitant to try it on 1/4-20 rivnuts, but the tool is sized to accept that size stud and would probably work just fine on aluminum rivnuts. This is the simplest and most basic form of rivnut tool Im comfortable using. The kinds that pull up on the rivnut by turning a bolt across the threads are hit or miss, especially on the aluminum rivnuts, since they can strip out the threads every once in a while. And the tool that looks like a normal rivet gun has a tendency to break the mandrel on smaller diameter threads with steel rivnuts if youre not careful, since youre applying so much pressure to the handles sometimes you can tweak the whole tool over too far. I like that the bolts are standard and this tool does not require any special mandrels. The only custom parts required to add a new size of fastener is a new bushing to fit the smaller fastener into the 1/4 hole in the body (no bushing required for 1/4-20 or M6). These bushings are easy to make on a lathe, and could probably be made by hand using hardware store spacers or bronzoil bushings if necessary. This makes it relatively easy to keep an assortment of random sizes around for different projects and measurement systems. The main drive bolt that actuates the slide is a standard grade 2 1/4-20, although if you need to replace that chances are youve stripped the threads on the slide already. The only feature I would add is a steel spacer plate up top to replace the larger of the two washers. Ive seen this plate in use on other versions of the same tool, and it consists of a hole the diameter of the bolt youre using (It is dependent on that diameter, so I understand why its not included), and holds the correct spacing between the bolt head and the main body of the tool so the bolt doesnt try to cam over on the sliding block and gall it up too badly. This kind of plate is simple to make for almost anyone who might need a rivnut tool anyway, and grease on all the sliding surfaces and threads should suffice otherwise.

Very handy tool for tight places, very satisfied

Up-rated to 4 stars in consideration of the low price. This seems to be the cheapest tool to set rivet nuts, and is fine if you only have a few to install. The top washer failed after setting the second #6 riv-nut. I replaced it, along with the larger washer under it with a fender washer with a smaller hole for better support. This reduced but didnt eliminate the problem. Also found the tool difficult to hold steady. Adding a temporary shim under the base near the bolt helped to stabilize it. Would have been better if the base of the tool had an offset to allow for the space taken by the riv-nut head so the base sits flush on the aluminum skin. However, I would recommend it so long as you only have a few smaller size riv-nuts to install, due to the much lower cost vs. other tools.

Awesome in tight spaces! Very clever design. Kind of hard to hold, at risk of bending the piece you are inserting into. Mine broke the casting after about 30 installs. Not a tool for production work, or for anything over a #10 rivnut, But it sure is handy to have in your box!

Clever design, does a fine job in a tight space. The finish of the cast body leaves a bit to be desired, as its quite rough. In addition, the material is a bit too soft. After three uses, the washer dug into the top and made the tool inoperable. I was able to grind/sand the top flat and complete my job. I had 8 rivet nuts to install and it eventually served me well for that I wonder how long it will last.

Definitely not for production work, but will work in tight spaces where a regular squeeze type gun wont fit. Easy to replace screws in case one gets stripped or broken. I recommend ordering an extra screw ahead of time.

My first try at this tool. I installed 32 riv-nuts in 48 minutes. To get ready I greased all the surfaces that would slide against each other. Then I started in installing the 8-32 riv-nuts. I used a 12 volt drill motor with a 7/16 socket bit to turn the screw. Really slick! The only complaint I have is that the stabilizing rod will fall out of the tool when I was putting new riv-nuts on the tool. I got tired of picking it up off the floor (which was a bit of a pain) so I put a little electrical tape on each end of the rod to keep it from falling out. I can see, though if one is not paying close attention it is probably possible to over tighten the riv-nut and break the tool or the bolt that is in the riv-nut. All in all a great value and a must have tool for installing riv-nuts

Great tool! Ive done 50+ rivnuts with mine mostly in 1/4 -20. The top slide where the washer rides has started to deform so I wish it was made of steel but I dont need to do many more inserts. I use a cordless drill with a 7/16 nut driver for speed. On the con side the little bracing rod sometimes needs some help holding the tool steady.

I used this on an Exhaust Pipe, a round one ! This is made for a flat surface. I used this on a 1 1/4 round stock and it worked just Fine ! I would recommend this for an application of RivNuts where youre only doing a few or a gun wont fit. Easy to use, good result.

The price was right. For installing a couple of rivet nuts this did the job.

Nifty little inexpensive tool, but can be a little awkward. If you do very many of these, may want to opt for the more expensive grip type.

Gave it a 5 for the value. Ive set at least 50 Rivet Nuts, 6, 8 and 10-32 with no problems. Just use common sense and keep the tool from twisting with a crescent wrench or whatever and lightly lube the slide and under the washer.

Works well IF you lube all surfaces and do not use their supplied washers. They will deform which will cause the rivnut to be installed off square. And if youre picky like me, youll be drilling it out. Use a large area washer (lube underneath) under the allen and it will work properly. The manufacturer should include better washers. Otherwise, works very nicely.

Sets rivnuts quickly. Be sure to lube the sliding surfaces and the sliding lifting screw for longer tool life.

Hard to find tool, works great, highly recommend.

Working tool, good for money.