Assembly

Mechanical assembly is the process of putting components together, making a complete product to perform a function.

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Mechanical assembly proves quite popular within the industry, benefits include:

• Easy to test and inspect the products assembled.

• Products can be easily disassembled and also reassembled in situ.

• Can allow for press fit and screw assembly.

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In order to mechanically attach two or more parts together, numerous fastening methods are used. The most common choice of fasteners are either nuts and bolts, or rivets.

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A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the tail. 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. In other words, the pounding or pulling creates a new "head" on the tail end by smashing the "tail" material flatter, resulting in a rivet that is roughly a dumbbell shape. 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. Because there is effectively a head on each end of an installed rivet, it can support tension loads. However, it is much more capable of supporting shear loads.