Eyelets and Grommets

Eyelets and grommets, like rivets, provide a means for holding together thin materials. However, eyelets and grommets offer the additional feature of providing a reinforced hole through such materials. They come in a vast range of shapes and sizes from round to oval, circular holes to square and rolled flanges to flat. Eyelets and grommets provide strength and durability to materials such as paper, card, thin plastic, fabric and leather. They are used in a broad range of applications from ring binders to carpet swatches to shoes to tags. Eyelets and grommets are installed with an appropriately sized die set employed in tools ranging from large-volume automatics down to simple hammers. Eyelets differ from grommets in that eyelets typically come in a broader range of shapes and sizes, whereas grommets tend to have larger flanges. Grommets tend to be used in applications requiring additional strength and are most commonly used in association with matching washers, including plain washers, teeth washers and neck washers, that serve to reinforce the strength and stability of the attachment from the side opposite the grommet.