Astro pneumatics tools co. has made its name and well renowned in the US over the last 40 years. The company manufactures sought-after tools and innovations, widely accepted among households, shop owners and professionals.
This post brings to you the review of one of their transformation products which is Astro Pneumatic Tool PRN1 3/8″ Capacity Pneumatic Rivet Nut Setting Kit – Metric & SAE.
Astro Pneumatic PRN1 Tool Kit in the classes of riveter is an air rivet gun suitable for metric and SAE applications.
The tool has mixed critics from the different users, so therefore we decide to get our hands on it in order to drop our own thought and result arrived at. Without further ado, let’s get into the post.
Astro Pneumatic Tool PRN1 Pneumatic Rivet Nut Setting Kit just as another pneumatics rivet guns is a rivet gun powered by compressed air that helps to speed the riveting process.
Ergonomics
The Astro PRN1 is a lightweight nut tool weighing 3.59lbs that comes with a friendly and environmental design. It features an Air Inlet of 1/4″ PT and air consumption of 3 cubic feet per minute (cfm).
It has a super comfortable and convenient grip to avoid hand injuries or fatigue, especially at the constant process of pulling the triggers repeatedly during rivnut installations.
Speed control
The tool has the traction power and pulling force of 2,680 lbs of instant air-hydraulic in setting an instant rivet nuts with the pull of the trigger, and it quickly un-threads set rivet nuts by operating free spinning rear wheel.
The pneumatic rivnut tool is also provided with a stroke length of 6.5mm rendering the tool speed capacity of setting many rivnuts at a cycle time of 2.1sec comfortably.
With a moderate noise and vibration control, the user wouldn’t worry much about hearing damage.
Compatibility
Astro Pneumatic Tool PRN1 rivet Nut Setting Kit is provided with compatible eight mandrels/nosepieces in M4, M5, M6, M8, M10, 1/4″, 5/16″ and 3/8″ sizes in Metric & SAE.
And with its max capacity of M10 (3/8″) steel and aluminium rivet nuts of M6 (1/4″), stainless rivet nut proves its suitability for wide applications.
Pros
- Moderate noise
- It has a simple operation structure
- One-step trigger
- Quick and simple operation
- Sturdiness
- Reduces operator fatigue
- Affordable
- Storage case for mobility.
Cons
- Technical know-how is required.
- Inadequate product instructions
- Break easily.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I was trying to change out the mandrel and the gun like ‘pushed out’ a little bit. Now the chrome nose piece will not go back on. How to fix it?
Ans: You probably have to activate it, connect air and hold the trigger down while you screw the chrome tip back on
Q: What thread pitch is all these mandrel/nose pieces?
Ans: It depends on which mandrel you use. The kit has both metric and SAE mandrels in it
Q: What thread is the M8 mandrel 1.0 or 1.25?
Ans: The M8 tool is a standard 1.25 mm pitch. The smaller sizes are M6-1.0, M5-0.8, and M4-0.7
Q: Is this a spin-pull-spin type rivnut setter? And it’s it set by force/pressure or distance?
Ans: It is a straight pull device just like a pop rivet setter. it requires signifiucant pressure to set the bigger sizes of steel rivnuts. Astro does make a spin-pull rivnut setter (Onyx) but it is quite a bit more expensive and only comes with mandrels for limited sizes
Conclusion
To be fair, Astro PRN1Pneumatic Tool is a resourceful tool no doubt yet there are few downsides noticed in our research.
One is the included sturdy box for easy organization and movement of the tools but we notice that when you put on the air fitting you can’t put it back in the sturdy case.
You would have to remove the air fitting every time you want to put it back in the case in order to achieve the purpose the case was made for.
And another, as was purported by the manufacturer Astro, that the nut riveter is a great tool for setting M8 rivnut. We found this to be true but achieving it requires certain skills or method.
For instance, It got hard for us to set a 5/16” rivnuts and harder to set the said 3/8”, that for us to achieve that we had to increase the tool air pressure psi to over 120 to get it done.
Hence, it works well but technical know-how and skill are required as that would help the user to adjust or fine tune the rivnut tool to meet the specific or basic project and application intended.
Anything after these two downsides, the rivnut tool is truly worth the price.
But if you are thinking of changing your mind about getting another air rivet gun. You can check out our post on the best five possible for your projects.
