There are two main categories of hand riveters – those that operate by manual mandrel retraction and those that rely on pneumatic pressure. Both are capable of setting blind rivets but each type provides a different level of leverage potential to the end user.

Hand Rivet Guns are ideal for small projects where power is not available or for repair jobs when you need to use a riveter for a brief period of time. They are ideal for applications where you only need to install a few rivets such as repairing a truck bed or fixing a highway sign.

Heavy Duty Lever Riveting Tools are the next step up from a hand riveter and are more heavy-duty. They come with a nose piece and work with a wider range of rivet sizes. They are also more user-friendly as they reduce the physical strength required by the hand riveter. They may also have a collection bottle that catches the mandrels after installation.

Lazy-Tong Type of Hand Riveter
The lazy-tong type of manually activated hand riveter resembles a pair of shrub trimmers with two long handles. The tong lever is pushed toward the tool’s jaws to open them, and it is then closed again to grip and retract the mandrel. This gives the tool a much longer range of motion, which only requires a single cycle to set the rivet.