Solid rivets consist simply of a shaft and head that are deformed with a hammer or rivet gun. Solid rivets are one of the oldest and most reliable types of fasteners, having been found in archaeological findings dating back to the Bronze Age. There are a number of types of rivets, designed to meet different cost, accessibility, and strength requirements:Ī typical technical drawing of a universal head solid rivet Sophisticated riveted joint on a railway bridge Bolts and screws are better suited for tension applications.įastenings used in traditional wooden boat building, such as copper nails and clinch bolts, work on the same principle as the rivet but were in use long before the term rivet was introduced and, where they are remembered, are usually classified among nails and bolts respectively. To distinguish between the two ends of the rivet, the original head is called the factory head and the deformed end is called the shop head or buck-tail.īecause there is effectively a head on each end of an installed rivet, it can support tension loads (loads parallel to the axis of the shaft) however, it is much more capable of supporting shear loads (loads perpendicular to the axis of the shaft). In other words, pounding creates a new 'head' on the other end by smashing the 'tail' material flatter, resulting in a rivet that is roughly a dumbbell shape. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked (i.e., deformed), so that it expands to about 1.5 times the original shaft diameter, holding the rivet in place. The end opposite to the head is called the tail.

Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener.

Diy pop rivet types and uses