PCB Eyelet installation tools - PCB Repair

[ThermallyFrigid]

Hello,

Have you purchased tools for repairing PCB vias where the core was accidentally pulled from the PCB?

I purchased a kit from Chip-Direct on ebay and was not able to get these tools to work properly.
Here are their directions for use
PCB Rivet Eyelet Tool / Pin

We ship this tools in a plastic tube for safe shipping.

    Hit with a small hammer carefully on top of this pin. Take care for a hard underground !
    Do not bend this tool when it’s in the rivet.
    Always keep this tool strait up.
    If do so, then you have a great tool.
    Always place the rivets first on the PCB and then the components.

We have done some hundreds of rivets with this tools and have no problem at all.

Now it could just be me, but I had no luck with this.  In fact, the rivets do not collapse as expected.
instead, the tool deforms.

What I believe causes this is that there is absolutely no chamfer to help guide the edge of the brass rivet outward to form a mushroom and then curl downward to the PCB surface.
(See illustration below)
Instead the surface of the tool that contacts the rivet is completely flat.

it is possible that this tool will only work with special rivets....such as those having a pre formed outward mushroom shape on the tip of the rivet that should expand.   However, such a pre shape seems as thought it might interfere with passing through the PCB in the first place.  another possibility is that these brass rivets come in a varying degree of thickness such that thicker rivets are much harder to form into a mushroom and curl to the PCB surface?

The illustration below illustrates.  The Flat tool (as supplied by Chip-Direct) will simply try to Crush the eyelet shaft straight down.   This results in excessive force on the tool.
The proposed Curved tool on the right has a chamfer that helps the eyelet spread into a mushroom requiring less force and forming a nice circular contact patch to the PCB

If you have tried these tools what was your experience?   Did I possibly receive a set that was not properly machined and lacked the chamfering ?
I do believe I used them carefully and as directed.   have you tried them?  What were your results?  Can you suggest anything I did incorrectly?
Thanks

[jpanhalt]

On very rare occasion that I have needed to repair a TH plated pad with a rivet, I have used the sets from Circuit Medic (https://www.circuitmedic.com/instructions/INS1064.pdf) and have had no problems.  The shop head ends up a little different than the factory head, but they hold and are easily solderable.

[ThermallyFrigid]

On very rare occasion that I have needed to repair a TH plated pad with a rivet, I have used the sets from Circuit Medic (https://www.circuitmedic.com/instructions/INS1064.pdf) and have had no problems.  The shop head ends up a little different than the factory head, but they hold and are easily solderable.

Looking at the link you posted, I can see how these can work.

This kit uses a pointed tool to first expand the rivet, then a second to push it flat.

[jpanhalt]

I don't recall you said how you are setting them.  I hope it is a small arbor press, not a hammer.  I am sure it could be done with a small hammer, but I used an arbor press for better control.

[ThermallyFrigid]

I don't recall you said how you are setting them.  I hope it is a small arbor press, not a hammer.  I am sure it could be done with a small hammer, but I used an arbor press for better control.

See the Opening Post.
I quoted the manufacturers own directions for use.

[jpanhalt]

Hey, it was Chinglish.  Use a small arbor press (not hydraulic) or a small tack hammer.  Those riversts are not 1/8" 2017 aircraft rivets.  If you use a hammer, tap lightly to control the compression and forming.

[wasyoungonce]

We use staking sets to fix PCB rivets ....they are all but gone these days.   They were used to inset watch jewels etc...cam with little hammers...like a toy but jeez they were good. But sadly expensive

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/383023020812

I agree on using a slight radius on inset stake tool and over pressuring them easily splits rivets.  These days they use a small press.

[ThermallyFrigid]

We use staking sets to fix PCB rivets ....they are all but gone these days.   They were used to inset watch jewels etc...cam with little hammers...like a toy but jeez they were good. But sadly expensive

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/383023020812

I agree on using a slight radius on inset stake tool and over pressuring them easily splits rivets.  These days they use a small press.

Oh those might work.
But the little flat tools I got on ebay .....it's nearly impossible for those to flatten properly.

[jpanhalt]

But the little flat tools I got on ebay .....it's nearly impossible for those to flatten properly.

The drawing you posted and the CircuitMedic tool look the same.  Maybe a picture would help. (Mine were actually bought from Circuit Technology, which I believe was renamed or acquired by Circuitmedic.)

Here's a picture of the tools I use.  On the right are the two tools I purchased.  The square plate is just a base that holds the bottom set vertical.  The small rod is the set.  One end is a cone for spreading; the other is flat with a center dimple for flattening.  The center dimple keeps it centered in the rivet.

On the left are the two adapters I made for by arbor press.  The arbor of the press has a hole in it to accept the tail of the aluminum piece.  The other end of that piece has a hole to accept the set.  The steel piece simply serves as a flat for the back side (factory side) of the rivet.

Those tools do not have any curvature as you proposed.  They work fine.  Here's a picture from MIT:  http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.16/doc/tutorials/PCB_Rivets/

The shop side has slightly more ridge to it than the back (factory made) side.  My rivets look the same, but I don't have/can't find any pictures of them.  Perhaps you just need more practice and a smaller hammer.

[ThermallyFrigid]

  One end is a cone for spreading; the other is flat with a center dimple for flattening.  The center dimple keeps it centered in the rivet.

THIS is why yours works and what I received will not.
The tools I received have no "Cone" side.  Nothing to get the rivet spreading so that it can be properly flattened.
As I said, it simply tries to CRUSH the rivet center section flat.   That will not work.
Perhaps if one end had been a cone.


Try NOT using the end with the cone first.  Then you will get the results I got.

[jpanhalt]

To save buying a new one, do you have a center punch?  Use that as the "spreader."

Edit: A scribe or metal pick might also work.

[ThermallyFrigid]

To save buying a new one, do you have a center punch?  Use that as the "spreader."

Edit: A scribe or metal pick might also work.

I was going to try that.
Thanks

[vk6zgo]

To save buying a new one, do you have a center punch?  Use that as the "spreader."

Edit: A scribe or metal pick might also work.

Back when I did a fair number of these, that's what I used.
Some eyelets are soft enough that hand pressure alone on the punch is enough to spread them OK.

The supply of such eyelets & the often needed track replacement material seems to have dried up in Oz.
The brand we used back then was "Cir-Kit".

[ThermallyFrigid]

To save buying a new one, do you have a center punch?  Use that as the "spreader."

Edit: A scribe or metal pick might also work.

Back when I did a fair number of these, that's what I used.
Some eyelets are soft enough that hand pressure alone on the punch is enough to spread them OK.

The supply of such eyelets & the often needed track replacement material seems to have dried up in Oz.
The brand we used back then was "Cir-Kit".

i think this is a good point.
The eyelets I have now may be harder to form.   Not sure since this is the first time I'm trying this.
What I'm ending up doing is simply drilling the hole to fit the eyelet, then soldering the eyelet into place.

[sleemanj]

I never bought any special tools (and it's been a while since I've used rivets, or made a PCB myself, for shame) and my rivets were cheap chinese 0.8mm probably brass, but if I needed to flatten them(*) I used to use a push-pin (noticeboard pin) to flare the end, then just either gave it a whack with a hammer/punch, or if I was feeling very motivated, take it out to the drill press and chuck up a steel rod with a flat end.

I always soldered afterwards mind you.

* More often than not I never bothered flattening them at all, just soldered both sides and leave it sticking through the 1mm or whatever, really like a slightly more convenient little-bit-o-wire.

[t1d]

I take it that your use of the tool is for more than a one-off repair. If you were just doing a one-off, I would have suggested the old method of just passing a wire through the old via hole and soldering it to the traces on each side.

[ThermallyFrigid]

I take it that your use of the tool is for more than a one-off repair. If you were just doing a one-off, I would have suggested the old method of just passing a wire through the old via hole and soldering it to the traces on each side.

Yes,
I do quite a bit of electronics repairs and occasionally I get a pulled via core that has to be repaired no matter how careful I am

Now for those who might jump to say 'Well then do it right and don't let that happen!!!"
lol.  Please look up "6 Sigma".   Even in robotics and under the highest QC methods errors occur.