Astro Pneumatic Tool 1450 13" Plusnut and Extra-Long Rivet Nut Setter Kit Metric & SAE

Great tool!

Works well on my (long) pre-bulbed SS 1/4-20 plus nuts.

We are trying to install Plus nuts into the floor of our van so that we can install shelving units and secure them to the van floor. We had problems with the Plus nuts spinning, but this tool made installing them so simple and easy - even with spinning plus nuts! Thanks so much!

The tool works well at what it does, but I'm giving it 4 stars because I've twice run into an issue where the nut on the mandrel gets very stuck, making it difficult to change mandrel sizes. It took at least 30 minutes of swearing, WD-40, pliers, and a vice to get it off so I could change mandrels. I highly recommend lubricating the nut threads with WD-40 when putting the mandrel on.

I used this to install PlusNuts in a Ford Transit van for L track. I had the choice of using a pneumatic tool or this manual one and I used this for the vast majority of the nuts I installed. I thought this one might be a little short, but ended up being fine for my application. My tips for installing PlusNuts include spraying the tool with silicone spray to lubricate before you put each nut on and using a washer (preferably an inside tooth lock washer) with each nut. This tool comes with several sizes and worked great. I am very pleased with it.

Astro Pnuematic, plus nut tool arrived very fast. I was happy about that because I could get right into my project. It came with instructions and was easy to use. It did give me a workout, when pressing the handles together to secure plus nuts; but I liked that you could reduce tension and apply pressure little by little to secure plus nut. Meaning, you don’t have to get it in one or two presses, you can press more with less tension and still get a secure fit of the plus nut. Over all great tool, worth every penny.

I bought this set instead of the regular 13” set because it came with more mandrels and they were the long kind. The long mandrels work fine with regular sized rivnuts. I actually needed a M4 so I had to buy the cheap knock off version for $10 on Amazon of course. This set does not come with any rivnuts unlike the regular set. I used it on a Harbor Freight sand blast cabinet with M4 rivnuts installed using this tool (and the M4 mandrel i brought separately). Just go easy, you can always reattach and pull again. You can’t put back together a broken mandrel.

For what this costs, I'd take my chances on a cheaper tool. It's very simple, and has design flaws but it works. I imagine most of the cheaper versions of this type of tool work just as well. The major flaw is that it's impossible to apply even pressure from both sides. One side always moves toward center first making the force on the nut uneven. There has got to be a way to add some kind of mechanism to make the force equal on both sides and for the price they should have figured this out. That said, you can adjust for the uneven pressure and the tool works, it's just a bit over-priced for what it is.