Why are tape measure rivets so important?
Ever wonder why that hook on the end of a tape measure isn’t fixed in position? It wiggles on its rivet(s) to make up for the hook’s thickness. Push the tip against something for an inside measurement, and the hook is included in the reading; hook it on the end of a piece for an outside measure, and the resulting gap equals the space the hook would take up.
When your tape is equipped with low-quality tape measure rivets, these are the possible scenarios you’ll run into:
1. Rusting problem: When pounding rivets on tape measures, the plating surface of the rivets will be expanded, creating a crack, and that’s where the rusting starts from. The crack gives room for the air to contact the inside iron, which eventually causes the rivet to rust. The rusting makes the rivet expand (or crack, if you will) more than it should. And this eventually leads to the dysfunction of the tape measure hook.
2. Lack of Aesthetic Finish: Another situation you’ll run into is the aesthetics. Normally when pounding, the rivet end expands to about 1.5 times the original shaft diameter. A perfect rivet after pounding will result in roughly a dumbbell shape. Using low-quality rivet, the rivet opens up about 2.0-2.5 times the original size. This will make the dumbbell shape unsymmetrical, and decrease the aesthetic appeal of the tape measure hook. In some cases, low-quality tape measure rivets will even cause inaccuracy when measuring.
If you face any problem in terms of tape measure rivets, please feel free to contact us, Richard & Brothers, experts of tape measures.
