Grommets and eyelets for laser wood items

[James Terry]

I am doing some wooden keychain fobs and various other dangly things and they eventually split and break at the ring hole. I am looking for a low cost way to reinforce the hole. I am typically using 1/8" wood panels and need an idea of what type of grommet system would work well and fit correctly. Any experience you may have would be appreciated. My current hole size is around 3/16".

208453

[James Terry]

Based on this info:

There is a common misconception that the use of a washer with an eyelet constitutes a grommet. While a washer can be used with an eyelet, there are important differences between the two. Typically a grommet has a larger flange diameter in relation to the hole size as compared to an eyelet. The larger flange makes a grommet stronger than an eyelet.
It looks like I'd prefer an eyelet or a very small flange grommet for this purpose. Alas, those seem harder to find.

[Lee DeRaud]

Try a fabric store, e.g. Joann's. They'll have eyelets in that size range, plus the tool to set them.

[David Fairfield]

Besides Fabric stores, craft stores carry eyelets and the setting tool. Michaels has small grommets in assorted colors.

[John Noell]

We took the easier way out to avoid breakage problems, and substituted split rings on short chains for the spit rings by themselves. This reduces wear and strain on the wood part.

[Joe Pelonio]

Craft stores are way too expensive on grommets. Get them from a local sign supply, wholesale banner place, or catalog wholesaler like Grimco, Fellers or even grommetworld dot com. I have in stock mainly #0 which use a 1/4" hole and #2 3/8" hole and they run about $5/gross.

[Richard Rumancik]

If you want a more industrial-type supplier you could try Stimpson. Not sure of the minimum quantity/order value.

http://www.stimpson.com/eyelets.htm?col0=open (http://www.stimpson.com/eyelets.htm?col0=open)

They sell machines as well, but for low qtys you just need a small hand press (Harbor Freight?) with a setting tool. The setting tool is not complex, basically a cone-shaped tip that will roll the edge over a bit and flatten it. Or you could buy a commercial setting tool for the automatic machine but use it in a hand press. You can set eyelets with a hammer but impact is not the best way to set an eyelet. A smooth gradual force will give much better results.

[Lee DeRaud]

Craft stores are way too expensive on grommets.True for larger grommets that are normally sold in packs of 10 or less, but the smaller eyelets for this application are only $4 per hundred at Joannes.

[James Terry]

So the slow press machines can do their business without messing up the wood surface? For very small volume would I want a pliers kind of press or a desktop one? There seems to be this kind of thing on Ebay but I have yet to find the right size eyelets there.

Reading more, it looks like the real magic number is in the "grip" which is to equal the thickness of your substrate. That is the number I have been needing to understand.

[Lee DeRaud]

For very small volume would I want a pliers kind of press or a desktop one? There seems to be this kind of thing on Ebay but I have yet to find the right size eyelets there.For small volume (couple dozen per day), the pliers type will work fine.

It sounds like you're still in experiment/proof-of-concept mode, so why would you mess around with Ebay? Just hit Michaels or Joannes and buy a cheap press and a pack of eyelets and see how they work. The packages in the store probably have more info regarding 'grip' than the website, plus, when you don't know exactly what you need, there's just no substitute for holding the widget in your own hand and putting your own eyeballs on it. (I've seen these used on leather, so I strongly suspect your application is no problem.)

Once you have something that you know works, then you can worry about saving pennies buying them in bulk.

[AL Ursich]

I have them in stock from Grommet mart. 0 and 00... Ask for samples.... Might work...

Then there is that plastic fold over key ring snap that goes into the hole and locks a ring. More durable but then you have the plastic and wood... worth a look.

Johnson Plastics has them. Search Key Ring.

Just remembered they do have Grommets in small sizes but the small ones are called Eyelets too... Ask for samples of them too....

AL

[Mike Null]

There's a better solution than grommets.

http://www.johnsonplastics.biz/detail/M37/1/1/RINGTAB

[Jerry Hewett]

We use Tandy Leather Co. for grommets and other attachment items.