What are blind rivets?
Blind rivets are a type of permanent mechanical fastener that can join two or more types of materials together. Blind rivets are great for applications where only one side of the materials is accessible. This is because you only need access to one side of the materials to join them versus other rivets where you would need access to both sides.
Solid rivets for example require one side of the rivet to be hammered and the other side to be held against using a bucking bar against it, a process also known as bucking.
Blind rivets are commonly referred to as POP rivets. POP was the name of the original manufacturer, now owned by Stanley Engineered Fastening.
How does a blind rivet work?
A blind rivet works by compressing itself between two or more pieces of materials. A blind rivet is made of a shank and mandrel. A tool called a rivet gun is used to install rivets, it grabs the mandrel and pulls it as you use the tool.
The force from the bottom end of the mandrel will then cause the shank to expand as the mandrel pulls into the shank. The mandrel is designed with a weak spot called the necked area and will snap at a predetermined amount of force.
This will then leave the rivet tight against the materials. When installing a blind rivet you must drill the correct size hole in your material and not go bigger than the rivet or else your rivet will not secure properly.
Types of blind rivets
You can find blind rivets with different types of heads such as a countersunk head, standard dome head, and even a large flange head. If you are going to use a blind rivet, you might want to choose the right type for your application. There are 3 main types of blind rivets.
Open-end
Open-end blind rivets consist of a mandrel and a shank like any other blind rivet. The tail end of the mandrel is exposed and that is where the open end term derives from. Open-end blind rivets are the most commonly used type of blind rivet.
Closed-end
Closed-end blind rivets operate in the same manner other blind rivets do. The tail end is enclosed making it impossible for liquids to penetrate through the shank. Closed-end blind rivets are great for applications where waterproofing is necessary, such as electrical equipment, heating systems, etc.
Multi-grip
Multi-grip Blind rivets are designed for applications where two materials require different rivet sizes. This is because multi-grip blind rivets have a wide range of grip on the shank, hence the name multi-grip. If there is an oversized hole, a multi-grip blind rivet would have a better chance at making the materials tighter than a loosely installed open-end rivet.