Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This may be a dumb question, but I've been considering trying pop rivets for attaching metal mesh or hardware cloth to thin plastic for example (I use nylon bolts now.) How are rivets used? Do you drill a hole, put in the rivet from the back, then use the tool to fasten it? What kind of rivets are suitable for thin plastic like plastic tubs? Thanks alot.

I have done this and it works. Yes you have to drill a hole through the plastic part and then you stick the rivet through both the hardware cloth and the plastic. When you crimp the rivet with the tool it squeezes the pieces together.

Some things you need to do, you will need a washer on the rivet so the head of the rivet won't pull through the hardware cloth. You can buy the washers at the same place you get the rivets. When the rivet is pulled tight it will cause the plastic and the hardware cloth to buckle between the rivets sometimes. If instead of washers you use a strip of metal that is best of all. Drill through the metal strip the plastic and another metal strip so all the holes line up. Then insert the washer through the metal strip, the hardware cloth, the plastic, and finally through the second metal strip. That will give you a very strong attachment that looks nice too.
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