What can you make with Push Rivet Generator?
Clips for holes from 3 to 16 mm and panels from 0.5 to 25 mm. Makers print:
- Replacement clips for a bumper, a door card or a wheel arch liner.
- A panel, a cover or a sign held to a sheet with a clean head.
- An odd clip whose part number is long gone.
- A test set to find the size before printing a bag of them.
- Umbrella-head clips whose rim presses the panel.
How do you make a push rivet, step by step?
Everything is in the panel beside the clips, which update as you change them. Start from a preset, then change what you need.
1. Start from a preset
Pick 8 mm bumper, 7 mm trim, 10 mm liner, 6 mm panel or 6.5 mm fir-tree. A preset sets only the values it names; Surprise me tries another head and hold and keeps the hole, the panels and the length.
The presets and the clips they make. 2. Choose the clip
A push rivet is a sleeve and a pin: push the pin in and the legs spread behind the panel. A fir-tree is one piece whose fins catch behind any panel stack in their range. Say where it goes, indoors, in a car or outside: the filament check uses it.
A fir-tree clip, in a car. 3. Measure the hole and the panels
Measure the hole with calipers, not the old clip's legs, and the panels it holds together. A push rivet's sleeve reaches at least 3 mm past the panels; a fir-tree takes how much thicker a stack it still catches. Fit in the hole is taken off the hole for the shank.
The hole, the panels and the sleeve's length. 4. Shape the head and the hold
A flat, chamfered or umbrella head, its diameter and its height. Then a soft, normal or firm hold, how far the legs or fins stand past the hole, and 2 or 4 legs for a push rivet.
The head and the hold. 5. Check it and download
The checks say whether the legs pass the hole, whether there is room for the pin, whether the barbs print on your layers and which filament suits where the clip goes. Set how many clips, turn on Test sizes for a rough measurement, then download 3MF or STL.
The checks and the download.
Which clips can you start from?
Each example opens in Push Rivet Generator as a new design, beside your own.
8 mm bumper
A push rivet for an 8 mm hole through 5 mm of panels.
- 8 mm hole
- 20 mm head
- 5 mm panels
- Free
10 mm liner
A push rivet for a 10 mm hole, with a longer sleeve.
- 10 mm hole
- 20 mm head
- 14 mm long
- Free
6.5 mm fir-tree
A one-piece clip whose fins catch panels from 2 to 8 mm thick.
- 6.5 mm hole
- 14 mm head
- Panels 2–8 mm
- Free
Which print settings work best for push rivets?
Sleeves and fir-tree clips print head down, the way a round head prints without supports; pins lie on a flat, so they bend along their layers. The layer height is a starting point: the checks warn when a barb is thinner than two layers, and the thinnest wall is the one they hold each filament to.
| Filament | Layer height to start | Thinnest wall | Supports | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PETG | 0.2 mm | 0.8 mm | None | For a car; for clips in the sun all year, ASA or nylon. |
| PLA | 0.2 mm | 0.8 mm | None | Indoors only: PLA softens at about 60 °C, and the checks warn in a car or outside. |
Tips for clips that hold
- Measure the hole with calipers, not the old clip's legs.
- Turn on Test sizes when the hole measured roughly: one 0.3 mm smaller and one larger print beside it, each with its size on the head.
- Make the head 2 to 3 times the hole, so it does not pull through; the checks warn below twice the hole.
- Print at least two small clips: one alone cools too little between layers.
- Before you print, check it on the view's bar: Dimensions shows its size, Measure the distance between two points, Section cuts it open and Layers steps through it as your printer will.
What if the clip will not go in, falls out or snaps?
- The legs will not go through the hole
- Check the hole is the one you measured, not the old clip's legs; the checks say how wide the closed legs are. Raise Fit in the hole a step: it comes off the shank.
- The clip pulls out of the panel
- Choose a firm hold, so the legs or fins stand 0.9 mm past the hole each side, and set Panels to hold to the real stack.
- The checks say there is no room for the pin
- The hole leaves too little wall round the pin for your printer. Press Apply for a fir-tree clip, which has no pin.
- A fir-tree clip's legs are too thin
- Press Apply for a soft hold when the checks offer it: its smaller fins leave thicker legs each side of the slit.
- The clip softens in a hot car
- Print it in PETG, ASA or nylon: PLA softens at about 60 °C, and a car in the sun gets hotter.
Is Push Rivet Generator free?
Yes. Every clip, size and download is free; downloading needs a free NabiMakes account, which also keeps your projects.
Free
Free- Push rivets and fir-tree clips
- Every head and hold
- Test sizes either side
- 3MF and STL
Every setting, with its range and default
Lengths are in millimetres. Each setting shows only where it applies: the length and the legs for a push rivet, the extra range for a fir-tree.
| Setting | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clip | |||
| Style | Push rivet, Fir-tree | Push rivet | A sleeve and its pin, or a one-piece fir-tree clip. |
| Where | Indoors, In a car, Outside | In a car | Indoors, in a car or outside: only the filament check uses it. |
| Hole | |||
| Hole | 3–16 mm | 8 mm | Measure the hole, not the old clip's legs. |
| Panels to hold | 0.5–25 mm | 5 mm | The thickness of the panels it holds together. |
| Up to this much more | 0–15 mm | 3 mm | A fir-tree: how much thicker a stack its fins still catch. |
| Length | 3–45 mm | 13 mm | A push rivet's sleeve under the head, at least 3 mm past the panels. |
| Fit in the hole | 0–0.6 mm | 0.2 mm | Taken off the hole for the shank. |
| Head | |||
| Head | Flat, Chamfered, Umbrella (seals) | Flat | Flat, chamfered, or umbrella, whose rim presses the panel. |
| Head diameter | 4–40 mm | 20 mm | Across the head, at least the hole plus 1 mm. |
| Head height | 1.2–4 mm | 1.6 mm | How thick the head is. |
| Hold | |||
| Hold | Soft, Normal, Firm | Normal | How far the legs or fins stand past the hole each side: 0.4, 0.6 or 0.9 mm. |
| Legs | 2, 4 | 2 | A push rivet's legs: one slit makes 2, two make 4. |
| Clips | 1–24 | 2 | How many clips of each size. |
| Test sizes | On, off | Off | Adds one 0.3 mm smaller and one larger, each with its size on the head. |