X-ring chain w/clip masterlink trouble

I once had some trouble with a plain o-ring chain but this is ridiculous. I know it says do not use vice grips when squashing the link to slip the clip on but MAN! Is there a trick? I even tried vice grips but it does not want to compress the link enough. It even says to make sure to move the link plate back against the clip after. I don't see how that is a problem because I don't see how it wouldn't snap back in the first place. I know there is supposedly a tool to do this but is there another trick someone would like to share?

I know how u feel . it’s a pain.
i use 2 small 3” C lamps and 2 small 1/4" drive sockets. Pick sockets that just fit over the pin, like 1.8” or 3/16” maybe. Then u can put the plate on and compress the 2 pins . now try to remove 1 clamp/socket and get the clip started, the remove the other clamp and finish. It is an awkward thing to do.

I found a site that said to take a 4inch c clamp and a pipe flareing tool and turn off the pads. Then put the flare pad on the c clamp and flare the rivets. It worked like a charm, Better than 80-100 smackers for a special tool. I still had to squish the plates together but the rivet is longer and it was not that hard. So now I have a continuous chain. But I do have a couple of sore knuckles from trying to get that c-clip on.

Here is the link to making the chain riveting tool It works very well. LINK