If you’re looking for a powerful compact rivet gun that can fit into tight spaces, the AEG 18V 4.8mm Rivet Gun is for you.
At only 156mm long without the mandrel catcher, and weighing in at 1.4kg without the battery, it’s capable of tackling up to 4.8mm rivets with its impressive 11,000N pull force.
Even though it’s compact, the AEG still has a robust and comfortable design that feels good in the hand. It’s fast and smooth and includes all the features you would hope for, like a bright LED sight light, a mandrel catcher and a 28mm stroke length.
It comes with accessories that include 4x nose pieces (2.4mm/3.2mm/4.0mm/4.8mm) and will happily rivet using a wide range of rivet materials, including aluminium, copper, steel and stainless steel.
For our testing we grabbed Australia’s leading high-end roofer, Matt Sterland, from Sterland Roofing, and had him put the AEG through its paces.
for the National Metal Roofing and Cladding Association of Australia award entries for years, and he just cleaned up a few months back, winning 5 of the 15 categories.
He scooped the main award – the Rex Blackwell Award for Roofing Excellence – so congratulations to Matty and the hard-working Sterland Roofing team.
I couldn’t think of anyone better to test the AEG 18V 4.8mm rivet gun.
TEST #1: ERGONOMICS AND FEEL
I noticed the barrel of the grip felt like it had just a little more girth than the AEG drill or impact driver, which I liked. It felt great in the hand and really comfortable to squeeze the trigger.
But it was Matt’s opinion I was really interested in.
“The boys would have loved to have this rivet gun for a job we just finished,” popped Matt.
“It’s so easy to set up and use. The compact size is a huge benefit. When you take off the mandrel catcher it’s only 156mm long from front to back.
“It would have to be the smallest 18V rivet gun on the market, and probably the only one that would fit into small areas like box gutters and the like. This is going to make a huge difference for roofers who currently have to use manual rivet guns.
“It feels great and creates effortless and strong pop rivets in a second. The difference between using a traditional manual rivet gun and this one would be huge at the end of the day, in terms of saving both time and energy when up on the roof.”
OTHER TOUGH TESTS:
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Bahco ERGO 1000V insulated pliers
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Bosch 16GA Brad Nail Gun
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Snap-D range of D shackles and bow shackles
TEST #2: POWER AND PERFORMANCE
As the name suggests, AEG’s 18V 4.8mm rivet gun can take rivets up to 4.8mm, so it was always going to produce pretty amazing results at anything under that size.
It sure did manage exactly that.
We tested 3.2mm, 4mm and 4.8mm rivets in aluminium and stainless. Across the board it was fast, smooth and impressive. Even at the 4.8mm end of the range in stainless steel it exceeded Matt’s expectations considerably.
“This rivet gun has a pile of power,” triggered Matt.
“It’s fast and smooth. I thought it was going to struggle on the 4.8mm stainless rivets, as most 18V tools would, but it still smashed it. It was noticeable it had slowed a little from the 4mm rivet, but by no means would I say it struggled.
“There’s no doubt that this rivet gun would make a huge impact on roofers looking for a powerful and fast 18V rivet solution.”
As the rain really started to come down and a few of Matt’s roofers came back to the office, they were all more than impressed with this little performer. The overall feedback was, “Where was this last month on that job with the box gutters!”
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
There’s no doubt this tool will save time, reduce fatigue and repetitive strain, and reduce the scratches on metalwork that always happen when you get tired arms from squeezing traditional nonpowered rivet guns.
When you add in the LED sight light, 4.8mm capacity and the short overall length, you have a very impressive 18V rivet gun that will tick all the boxes for roofers of all levels.