When riveting with a partner, it is straight forward for the person operating the rivet gun to use two hands and hold the gun centered over the target rivet without allowing unwanted movement. While it does take some practice, it is a skill that can be learned by most anyone.

The task of holding the flush rivet set in place while riveting alone is a bit more challenging. The basic mushroom flush rivet set typically has a rubber outer ring that helps grip the target surface and prevent unwanted motion. There is of course a trade off here, the rubber ring has to extend slightly beyond the surface of the set to make sufficient contact to allow the set to stay in place. In addition, push too hard and the metal surrounding the rivet can take on some unwanted distortion, push too softly and the flush rivet set bounces around potentially causing all sorts distortions including the dreaded 'smile'.

The SB1 is used to reduce that unwanted movement and thus improve the chances of producing better results with less experience.

While the SB1 was developed with single person riveting in mind, it is also useful for the part time rivet gun operator to improve the consistency of results and reducing the risks of unwanted "events". Usage can therefore allow less experienced people to run the rivet gun allowing you to draw on a larger pool of potential helpers.

The dimensions of the SB1 have been targeted at assisting the builder of a Vans Aircraft solid rivet RV aircraft using a 1.5 inch diameter swivel mushroom set available from a large number of aircraft tool suppliers. While meant for an RV kit, the SB1 is applicable to any application using the same swivel mushroom set where rivet spacing is up to 1.5 inches. The 1.5 inch rivet spacing limit is simply to ensure there are typically two clecos available to act as clamping posts for the tool.

Operation of the SB1 is simple, it grips the adjacent two clecos to the rivet being set by a quick turn of the built-in clamp. The SB1 can be easily be loosened, slid the next location, and retightened in seconds without any additional operation on clecos with no regard to rivet spacing up to 1.5 inches. It doesn't take long to realize the time to use the tool is small compared to the time saved by not having to drill out the occasional poorly set rivet that may result from unwanted movement of the mushroom set, not to mention the reduced risk of "smiles". Even with varying skill levels and quality thresholds, it would be difficult to not see a time improvement using the SB1 when it comes to the number of rivets that have to be redone.

When doing rivets from a comfortable position, the existing methods work fine with a little practice. The place this tool really shines is when doing rivets at the extent of your reach and/or in awkward positions. Once used on a regular basis however, it is hard not to want to use it where ever possible just for the extra safety factor in being able to do a precise operation even in instances of momentary lapses of concentration. By making the task of stablizing the rivet gun easier, far more attention and concentration can be directed at the bucking bar when solo riveting.

The SB1 itself is milled out of HDPE plastic producing a comfortable and easy to use tool with low risk to scratching the surfaces it comes in contact with during riveting. Being manufactured out of plastic also means there is no dust being released during each use from the high vibrational loads of being in contact with a rivet gun. Prototypes were made of wood, specifically MDF which is also easy to machine, but the qualities and durability were just not as good as HDPE.

After using this tool and the many previous generations leading up to this version during the construction of a Vans RV-7A, a great number of usage tips have been accumulated. Every builder will likely come up with new ones, but here are a few.