Fitting brass eyelets

[Tim Hall]

I have some two part brass eyelets that I want to fit to the seat of the Pino, so I can tighten the fabric up. Originally (20 years or so ago) it had elasticated loops and webbing straps for this purpose, but the the elastic no longer is. I'm thinking eyelets plus suitable cord to lace it.

Anyhoo, as I say, I have the eyelets plus a setting tool, all borrowed from The Girl.  YouTube suggests getting a punch of some sort to smack through the fabric to cut a suitable hole, or failing that, get creative with a very sharp knife. I don't have a punch so am considering getting a tube of suitable diameter, heating it up and burning a neat hole in the (some kind of) plastic mesh of the seat.  The needs to be 8mm diameter. I'm struggling to put my hands on things in my boxes of tqt that are the right size.

What common household objects are metal tube 8mm od?

[Kim]

Not a tube, but the back end of an 8mm drill bit?

[hellymedic]

Pen barrel?

[Brucey]

the bushing in the middle of a basic derailleur pulley.

The head of an M5 threaded caphead screw.

FWIW wad punches are not expensive.

cheers

[Kim]

Wrap a bit of thin sheet metal around the afore-mentioned drill-bit, tie it off with a bit of wire?

[MattH]

As above, a set of punches aren't expensive and come in useful for all sorts of things (belts, I made a set of straps that go onto the top of my saddle bag to attach a dry bag...) , so you have the right thing for the job and a useful tool for the future.

Otherwise I could be tempted to tightly clamp a couple of pieces of wood either side of the material and drilling through the sandwich. Would have to be rigid wood and held very tight close to the hole's position to stop the material snagging and bunching.

[JonBuoy]

Check that you don't already have the punch:

My box of 1/2" two piece Beaver Brand brass eyelets came with a reversible setting tool.  This is a punch and a ring that punch out the hole when use one way round then set the eyelet when used the other way round.

[robgul]

Check that you don't already have the punch:

My box of 1/2" two piece Beaver Brand brass eyelets came with a reversible setting tool.  This is a punch and a ring that punch out the hole when use one way round then set the eyelet when used the other way round.

Ditto on the tool having a punch  -  and if it's a plastic material you might be able to poke a hole with a warm electric soldering iron if you have one (perhaps using a metal washer as guide/template?)

[mrcharly-YHT]

I don't like eyelets in fabric. Would rather sew on a loop of strapping - sew in a square then across the square. That will distribute the load much better than an eyelet.

[nobby]

A nail of slighter smaller size heated up and pushed through the fabric if it has any plastic in it. If not, B&Q sell lengths of tube. Failing that try a scrapyard.

[giropaul]

A leather punch - the thing that looks a bit like pliers with a rotating head for selecting the hole size, would be my first try. The advantage is that it wouldn’t need anything being removed.
Cheap ones abound on EBay. It’s not likely to be something you need regularly, so it wouldn’t need to be a fancy one, unless you’re a tool junky.

[Jurek]

Benson & Hedges king size and a hammer.
I haz the proper punch and setting tool for 8mmØ eyelets.
I also have a set of wad punches the closest two of which are sized at 7.6mmØ and 9.6mmØ
Of these, the house recommendation would be the 7.6mmØ.
You are welcome to effect some borrowage.

ETA - I've also prolly deffo got some 8mmØ OD tube knocking about.

[Tim Hall]

Benson & Hedges king size and a hammer.
I haz the proper punch and setting tool for 8mmØ eyelets.
I also have a set of wad punches the closest two of which are sized at 7.6mmØ and 9.6mmØ
Of these, the house recommendation would be the 7.6mmØ.
You are welcome to effect some borrowage.

ETA - I've also prolly deffo got some 8mmØ OD tube knocking about.

You haz PM

[Brucey]

set of cheap wad punches (including 8mm)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-PIECE-HOLLOW-PUNCH-SET-AMTECH-QUALITY-TOOL-LEATHER-HOLE-CUTTER-PAPER-NEW/324242381025?

£2.99 inc postage

cheers

[aidan.f]

mrcharley is right.. brass eyelets won't be strong in themselves, and the fabric will tear around them. Wot you need is reinforcement and then  fit sailmakers 'Cringles' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cringle

[Jurek]

^
This.
My experience of fitting eyelets is that they tend to rip themselves out of the surrounding material when subjected to any sort of strain.

[Brucey]

IIRC you can often get tolerable results using plastic or hard rubber washers to sandwich the fabric when the eyelet is installed.  But it all depends on the grip afforded by the eyelet and the friction coefficients/loads involved.   The eyelet is doing two separate things; load spreading/sharing into the fabric and wear prevention. There is not always the same requirement for each, depending on how the eyelet is used.

cheers

[Kim]

The tensioning load on a mesh recumbent seat is certainly going to be at the higher end of what might be considered reasonable.  (As the bruises on my back will testify.)

[Jurek]

IIRC you can often get tolerable results using plastic or hard rubber washers to sandwich the fabric when the eyelet is installed.  But it all depends on the grip afforded by the eyelet and the friction coefficients/loads involved.   The eyelet is doing two separate things; load spreading/sharing into the fabric and wear prevention. There is not always the same requirement for each, depending on how the eyelet is used.

cheers

My immediate thought is that a shake-proof / serrated washer might perform well in these circumstances - the only issue being that Tim, having expressed an interest in an OD of 8mm, would need to find a washer with an ID of 9.6mm, as the 10.6 ID of  a 10mm washer, renders it a bit baggy for this application.

[Tim Hall]

I'm going to experiment with the brass eyelets. Once that is proved to be an Abject Failure I'll do some sewing, or sub it out.

The seat has three sets of underseat attachments, one of which is already laced together with suitable cordage. I can't recall how this is attached.

The other two sets of attachment points look like they have room for two brass eyelets.  There is sufficient room to cut these off if they don't work and do some sewing. 

[Brucey]

I wonder if eyelets are the best way to go here; OK it is not quite the same thing but if you look at how car seats are made often there is a wire rail within a folded-over seam at the edge of the fabric.   Various hooks and loops (hog rings etc) are used to apply tension to the fabric via the wire rail.  I guess this doesn't allow the fabric to vary in the amount it 'stretches' beyond the extent of the rail flexibility, but might it work in this case?

Just a thought anyway.

cheers

[hatler]

mrcharley is right.. brass eyelets won't be strong in themselves, and the fabric will tear around them. Wot you need is reinforcement and then  fit sailmakers 'Cringles' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cringle

I do like a well formed cringle.

[aidan.f]

Are you heading the right way tacking around the subject, clewed up or just luffing about?

[hatler]

You might have to give me a bit of leeway whilst I splice a proper answer together.

[Tim Hall]

I wonder if eyelets are the best way to go here; OK it is not quite the same thing but if you look at how car seats are made often there is a wire rail within a folded-over seam at the edge of the fabric.   Various hooks and loops (hog rings etc) are used to apply tension to the fabric via the wire rail.  I guess this doesn't allow the fabric to vary in the amount it 'stretches' beyond the extent of the rail flexibility, but might it work in this case?

Just a thought anyway.

cheers

Good point (as are all the responses).  The back of the seat, while made from the same mesh as the base, is tensioned by having two vertical aluminium tubes held in pockets. Three toe strap type straps loop round these and are pulled tight. That could be an option here.