Brake Lining Rivets

I have lost count of the number of stepped punches I have made over the years for setting the hollow copper brake lining rivets. All have produced a passable job, but had, like my school reports reminded me: I ‘could do better’. It appears this job has always been a problem for the amateur Seven owners of old, looking at the 50+ spare shoes I have, not one has a decent rivet, some so bad you can’t believe anyone would have used them. A couple of the worst ones are shown here:
 
This tool (see photo), made out of an old jack handle, seems to do the job much better than my punches. The flat anvil is a scrap 3/8” BSF bolt and is threaded into the arm to adjust to the exact depth of the rivet head in the lining. The end that forms the rivet has been salvaged from a kit for fitting press studs in clothing. I don't have a lathe, so I reshape small items like this in my hand drill holding a fine file against them as they spin. It’s surprising what can be done with this method. I have only used this so far on the old shoe shown in the pics, the results look encouraging and I will be relining a set of new shoes for my Chummy soon.
 

With thanks to Ian Moorcraft