Bolster Rivet Press

The purpose of this project is to effectively design and fabricate a bolster rivet press for Buck Knives that will increase operator efficiency and safety while maintaining a high level of product quality. The machine will allow the compression of all three rivets in a single action and have the capability to accommodate multiple knife fixtures

Sponsor
This Project is supported by

Buck Knives

660 S. Lochsa Street

Post Falls, ID 83854-5200

Background Information
Buck Knives currently produces a common knife model known as the 110. Last year, Buck Knives supported a senior design project where the team was tasked with creating a machine that inserts pins into three locations in the knife. This year we are re-creating a bolster rivet press to press these pins to hold the knife together. The machine that Buck Knives is currently using to press the pins does not meet there needs or standards. The new machine must meet all of Buck Knives needs and standards stated in the Design Specifications section

Design Specifications

 * Operator should position the knife, press 'start', and then be free to do other work-cell tasks
 * Machine should press all three rivets w/o need of operator assistance
 * Machine should signal when rivets are pressed and knife is ready for retrieval
 * material adjacent to each of the three rivets should not be visible damaged
 * Knife should open/close normally after rivet pressing
 * Cycle time for pressing all three rivets after 'start' is pressed, should be <10 seconds
 * Tools/procedures should be provided for adjusting/maintaining rivet pressing force
 * Safety features should prevent extremities from getting within 4 inches of hydraulically actuated hardware during all operating cycles
 * Machine should be portable for re-positioning by one person within a work cell
 * Machine should run on a V power supply
 * Changeover between knife models should be less than 15 minutes

Satec Testing


Before starting testing we determined there were four critical conditions that had to be met. The pins had to be press hard enough to hold the knife together well and to keep the knife blade stable but not pressed to the point that it will hinder the knifes ability to open and close. Also the knife could not be physically damaged by the pressing process. Though testing with the satec machine we have discovered the optimal force to be used one each rivet is in the range of 1300lbf-1600lbf. In this optimal range there was not change in all four conditions and were all satisfied.