Milwaukee Rivet Tool Review

This is a tool I have been waiting on for a long time. In fact, if you follow Tools in Action, you have probably heard me request this tool for the past 5 to 10 years. Not that I do a ton with rivets, but a while back I had to install a liner for my fireplace which involved me standing on a ladder against the chimney. During this time I had to rivet 4′ sections together with a hand tool. Ever since then I thought there had to be an easier solution and even a way for a power tool to complete this job. Since I am not smart enough to invent it on my own, I am lucky that the good people at Milwaukee are smart enough to figure this out. So let’s jump into the Milwaukee Rivet Tool Review

Milwaukee Rivet Tool Review Overview

Think about all the products you come across that use rivets to hold pieces together. Boats, cars, bridges, buildings and even airplanes rely on rivets during construction. There are pneumatic tools to do a rivet but I believe Milwaukee is the first to have a battery operated tool for this operation.

Instead of using the brute force or your forearms, you can now just press a button and let the tool do all the work. Who wouldn’t want a cool tool like this?

Milwaukee Rivet Tool Review Features

The 2550 is designed to pull 3/32″, 1/8″, 5/32″, 3/16″ Rivets from Aluminum, Steel, and Stainless Steel with a capacity 0.8″ Stroke Length and a 2,000 lbs. pulls force. While the tool is bigger than a hand tool, it still has a small footprint. The tool is 6.5″ long, 2.63″ wide and 10.75″ tall allowing you to still get in smaller areas if needed.

You can buy the tool as a bare tool (2550-20), with a single 15Ah battery (2550-21) or with two 1.5Ah batteries (2550-22).

Here is the cool thing about this tool, it is powered by a small M12 battery.  No hoses, no compressors.  The tool can pull up to 250 3/16″ stainless steel rivets or 450 1/8″ steel rivets on a single 1.5 Ah battery.

The nose piece is all metal and will hold onto a rivet in any orientation.

Insert the rivet and press the trigger.  Really can’t be any easier.

The grip has the classic Milwaukee rubber surface for the M12 line of tools.

On the base of the tool, there is an LED light.

For those who like to carry this on their side, it comes with a belt clip.

One great feature to this tool is after you attach the pieces, the rod will fall to the back of the tool and be caught in the compartment so they aren’t littered all around your work area.

On the base of the tool is a holder that stores the heads while not in use. The heads are color coded to match with the size of your rivet.

Just below the LED light is a holder for a wrench.  This is the wrench you can use to change heads for different size rivets.

Milwaukee Rivet Tool Review Performance

I have to admit, this one is hard to critique on performance. You insert a rivet, press a button and you’re done. We didn’t have any issues with attaching two or more pieces together. In the end, it does exactly what Milwaukee says it will do.

The one issue we had is when you apply a rivet and the head is facing the ground, it didn’t always catch the rod. Sometimes after the job was finished, the rod would fall down. It isn’t a huge deal and isn’t as much an issue with the tool but just something to account for.

Changing out the head is easy. You just have to be careful as it’s easy to misplace the wrench or the head. Since the heads are small, just make sure you put them back in the holder right away so you don’t lose them.

When we did rivet two pieces together, it always looks good and we never had any issues with it not fastening together or leaving the head sticking higher than we wanted.

Milwaukee Rivet Tool Review Value

The 2550-22 kit retails for about $300 at The Home Depot.  The kit comes with the tool, two batteries, a charger and a bag.  If you’re doing a lot of riveting, then it’s not a bad price. For someone doing it a couple times a year, I am not sure that I would spend the money just to have the tool sit around.

Having said that, the rivet tool is a quality tool with a lot of force and is easy to use. With the tool be able to do a variety of sizes, $300 isn’t a bad price.

Milwaukee Rivet Tool Review Final Thoughts

Bottom line, I think this is a great tool. While I don’t do a ton of riveting, it’s a great tool for those who do as it’s easy, powerful and will not only save time but also save you from having to use force with your arms. For me, I have a hard time finding anything about this tool I don’t like. I think it’s a great addition for those who need a rivet tool and want to lose the air hose and compressor.