Roughneck Rivet Spinner and Chain Break

[Jim Timber]

Jim Timber submitted a new Showcase Item:

Roughneck Rivet Spinner and Chain Break

I indirectly got this for Christmas from the Mrs., I told her what I wanted and handed her a $20 off coupon, then she pulled out $100 and said "You want that, you buy it. I'm not going in that store!"

So I've actually had this a couple weeks and used it a few times now. I've made a dozen chains out of a 100' roll of Oregon LGX (still have most of it).

The tool itself is well constructed and works well with a couple minor flaws. The rivet spinner itself works very smooth and makes pretty rivets, but the chain holder wheels aren't quite in the right plane for the spinner's fixed depth rounding side. It's not a big deal, and it's easily corrected with some shims (which I haven't messed with yet), but it is worth noting. The other issue is the breaker block they provide doesn't hold the chain very well for popping rivets and the chain will roll into the slot below the chain and get stuck. This also puts a flat on the top edge of the drive links, that requires grinding to remove (or you could throw the link out and break off another, which might be just as dinged up). This is only on 3/8" chain and I haven't tried it with anything else, so it might be an isolated problem to my block or this chain since there's no bumper links to hold the drive link from twisting.

The work around for the poor performance of the breaker block has been to grind out most of the rivet head prior to breaking the chain. Other breaking blocks have a different slot profile and this one could possibly be cut too wide. I'm not sure. I haven't measured it or the chain side plates to see if it could be the problem.

Over all, I think it's a decent buy.

Read more about this showcase item here...

 

[USMC615]

Jim Timber submitted a new Showcase Item:

Roughneck Rivet Spinner and Chain Break



Read more about this showcase item here...

Thanks for the info and review Jim.

 

[Jim Timber]

You're very welcome. I've gotten a good deal of product knowledge out of the guys here, I figured it was time to take one for the team on the unknown.

I was surprised no one else had gotten one yet, or they have and haven't fessed up to buying a Chinese product. It's a clear knock-off of the Oregon, but with a different base and the chain breaker included for the same price. I'd venture the spinner inserts are also Oregon clones since they use the same A/B size denominators so parts should be easy to get even if NT decides there's not enough demand for these and pulls the plug.

 

[Philbert]

You should not have those types of problems with this type of tool. And you should not have to grind off rivet heads. It's possible to break and join chain with a center punch and a ball peen hammer. Respectfully, the reason you buy this type of tool is 'do it right', without having to shim and improvise.

The 2-in-1 Roughneck spinner / breaker combo is more similar to the Harbor Freight product than the Oregon model and clones.

The $100 price tag places it close to other spinner / breaker sets sold by site sponsors, such as Bailey's, that don't have those problems, and for which repair / replacement parts are readily available.

Philbert

 

[Jim Timber]

It was 80 bucks.

 

[Jim Timber]

The slot for the side plates is .015" wider than my chain. That's the problem. I'll shoot their CS an email and see how they handle it.



8 washers and 30 seconds later, the chain guides are fixed.