The factory puts them on with a roto-pien (sp?) tool. You won't be
able to duplicate that.

The factory squeezes them just like you can, but the tool needs
to have the right profile on the face and it has to be properly
polished. We have the tools and they work just fine, making rivet
flares just like the originals. The biggest hassles include getting
them tight enough without cracking the pad and avoiding cracking the
rivet flare in more than two places.
In the 1970's I sold truck parts and in the back of the shop we
had brake relining equipment, including a foot-operated riveter. I
relined shoes from a 4" industrial spin-dryer brake to 6" Cushman
scooter brakes to autos and light and heavy truck brakes, and the worst
were the earthmover shoes that weighed about 50 pounds each and had 96
rivets holding four friction blocks. I learned early on to watch those
rivet upset tools, discarding the chipped or worn ones that mashed
rivets instead of rolling them over in a proper flare.
And I must have absorbed a lot of asbestos...

Dan