SUMMER 2014

36 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

36 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Anthony Di Maio Anthony E. Di Maio attended Wentworth Institute and Northeastern University. In 1962 he started working with Blind Fasteners as Vice-President of Engineering & Manufacturing for two blind rivet manufacturers. He has been Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI) and is still involved in the writing of IFI specifications. In 1991, he started ADM Engineering and is working with Fastener Manufacturers developing new fasteners and special machinery. He can be reached at ADM Engineering, 6 Hermon Ave., Haverhill, MA 01832; phone and fax 978-521-0277; e-mail: tdimaio@verizon.net. NON-STANDARD BLIND RIVET APPLICATIONS The application where the blind rivet solved the assembly of two very different materials with complete success. The condition was the assembly of 3/16 thick leather to steel. The product was a horse harness with Christmas bells. The problem was, how to fasten the bells to the leather in a secure manner. The solution was a 3/16 diameter large flange open-end blind rivet. over a smaller area. The dome head blind rivet has a smaller head diameter than a large flange blind rivet. CLEAR PLASTIC TILE FRAME SLEIGH BELL 3/32” BLIND RIVET LEATHER LARGE FLANGE RIVET The assembly had to withstand immense movement as the horse walked. The large flange rivet was fastened from the leather side of the application and the barrel of the blind rivet entered a No.11 drilled hole in the bell. The large flange is the correct head configuration to use when the flange of the blind rivet is set against soft material, such as leather. The large flange distributes the blind rivet setting pressure over a larger area of the leather and you will have less depression into the leather. A regular dome head blind rivet will depress deeper into the leather, because the blind rivet setting pressure is concentrated Another interesting and successful application was the attaching of 1/8 thick clear plastic 10 inch square tile to 1/8 thick aluminum frame work. The 10 inch clear plastic tile had to be fastened to a series of walls in a new building that was being constructed. Fastening screws were tried but the plastic tile would crack and brake when the screws were tightened. The decision was made to use 3/32 aluminum blind rivets in the four corners of the plastic tile. The 34 size blind rivet was selected. This 34 blind rivet has a 3/32 diameter barrel and a maximum work thickness of 1/4 inch which was perfect for this application. To ensure that the clear plastic tile does not crack when setting the blind rivet, I manufactured the 3/32 aluminum mandrel with a lower tensile value of 80lbs. please turn to page 160

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