Over the past year, our team at Bay Supply has been working diligently to be your go-to source to learn all about the top engineered fastening and riveting system brands. At Bay Supply, we aim to provide not only the most comprehensive inventory at the lowest prices; we strive to provide a wealth of informative resources to the engineering and manufacturing community, too.

Whether you oversee an assembly line, manage a repair shop, or are a do-it-yourself enthusiast, you always want to use the right tool for any task at hand. Failing to follow this basic principle can dent productivity and negatively affect the quality of whatever you are constructing or repairing. That’s disappointing for a DIY fan or hobbyist and it’s costly for a business.

Of all the noises you can hear in an assembly environment, one of the most appealing sounds is a POP rivet being set by a pneumatic tool. The quick sound of compressed air sealing the rivet simply sounds like progress!

The idea of rivets and heavy-duty metal fasteners often conjures up images of serious industrial uses: airplanes, skyscrapers, bridges, and assembly lines. However, rivets also offer functionality and durability for a wide variety of home improvement projects and goals.

“Plastics.”

This is perhaps the second-most famous quote from The Graduate, right after “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me!” This advice on what Dustin Hoffman’s character should focus on his future was played for a few laughs, but was also sage: Five decades later, plastics are everywhere, including industrial applications.

Your tools first and foremost must be reliable no matter what line of work you're in. They should perform consistently and be intended to make the job easier for the consumer. Ergonomically designed to reduce fatigue on the body, and longer use on the job site — the Goebel Riveting Tool Family provides this.

In 1934, an aircraft manufacturer approached the George Tucker Eyelet Company with a challenge: Could it design a rivet that could be set from one side, particularly if there was no access to the other side of the material? The company was up to the challenge and developed the first pop rivet—so named because of the popping sound made during installation.

For some applications, a tight seal plugging a hole isn’t a luxury—it’s mandatory. Leaks of air or fluid are simply not acceptable, and you must have confidence that the seal you supply will perform as expected, even if you don’t have access to one side of the hole during installation.

Blind rivets provide outstanding fastening functionality in places where you don’t have access to one side. But what if your application requires something a little less permanent than a rivet? What if you want to be able to undo bolts, but keep your options open to reinsert them as needed? And what if you can’t see the other side of the surface you are working on?

In modern manufacturing, especially in transportation, lighter is the becoming the new standard.

Vehicles that aren’t as heavy tend to get better mileage and fuel efficiency (including getting more from the charge on electric vehicles), are better for the environment, reduce structural fatigue, and can even improve performance. Increasingly, manufacturers are deciding lightweight manufacturing is smart business.