Rivet Size Chart: Standard Diameters, Lengths & Materials

A rivet size is written as two numbers: body diameter first, then body length. Standard blind rivet diameters are 2.4, 3.0, 3.2, 4.0, 4.8, 5.0, 6.0 and 6.4 mm (3/32″ through 1/4″), with body lengths from 4 to 50 mm. Solid rivets to DIN 660 run from 1.0 mm to 25 mm diameter. Diameter is driven by the thickness of your thickest sheet; length is driven by the grip range, not by a formula.

That last point is where most sizing errors start, and it is why this rivet size chart lists grip ranges beside the lengths instead of leaving you to calculate them. Below you will find the dimensional tables for blind rivets in metric and inch series, drill and hole sizes, solid and semi-tubular rivet dimensions, and minimum shear and tensile values by material. The numbers come from DIN 7337 (closely equivalent to ISO 15983) for blind rivets, IFI-114 for the inch series, and DIN 660 / DIN 661 / ISO 1051 for solid rivets.

We manufacture rivets, semi-tubular stainless rivets and cold-forged parts at Yueqing Yiwan Hardware, so these are the same tables our engineers work from when a customer sends a drawing.

How rivet sizes are written

In the metric world the callout is simply diameter × length: a 4.8 × 12 rivet has a 4.8 mm body diameter and a 12 mm body length. Length is always measured from the underside of the head to the end of the body, never including the head itself.

The inch series uses a two-digit code that trips up a lot of buyers. The first digit is the body diameter in thirty-seconds of an inch; the second is the maximum grip in sixteenths. So a 4-4 rivet has a 4/32″ (1/8″, 3.2 mm) body and grips up to 4/16″ (6.4 mm). A 4-10 has the same 1/8″ body but grips up to 10/16″, giving a working range of roughly 12.7 to 15.9 mm. Prefixes and suffixes carry the material: an A-S code, for example, means an aluminium body with a steel mandrel.

One distinction is worth fixing in your head before you read the tables. Body length and grip range are not the same thing. The body is always longer than the maximum grip, because part of it is consumed forming the blind head on the far side of the joint. Order by grip range and cross-check the length; order by length alone and you will get loose joints.

Blind rivet size chart (metric, DIN 7337)

These are the dome-head dimensions specified by DIN 7337, along with the hole diameter the standard calls for.

Diameter tolerance is +0.08 / −0.10 mm on the smaller sizes and +0.08 / −0.15 mm on the larger ones. The hole is allowed to run between +0.05 and +0.2 mm oversize depending on diameter, with no undersize permitted. Note that the hole is nominally 0.1 mm larger than the rivet body on most sizes, so a 4.8 mm rivet wants a 4.9 mm hole, not a 4.8 mm one.

Head style changes the bearing diameter significantly. Countersunk heads to the same standard are smaller (around 6.0 mm on a 3.2, 7.5 mm on a 4.0, 9.0 mm on a 4.8), while large-flange versions go the other way, reaching about 9.5 mm on a 3.2 and 14 mm on a 4.8. If you are riveting plastic, thin sheet or soft board, the large flange is usually what saves the joint.

Rivet grip range chart: matching length to stack thickness

This is the table to work from when you specify length. The values below are for aluminium bodies with a steel or A2 stainless mandrel, per DIN 7337.

Grip ranges are not transferable between materials, and this catches people out constantly. Take one size, 3.2 × 6 mm, across three body materials: an aluminium body grips 1.5 to 3.5 mm, a steel body grips 0.5 to 3.0 mm, and an A2 stainless body grips 1.0 to 3.0 mm. Same part number geometry, three different windows. If you switch material to survive a salt-spray test, re-check the grip before you re-order.

Rivet hole size chart (inch series and drill sizes)

For the inch series, specified in IFI-114, these are the hole and drill sizes that go with each nominal diameter.

The metric equivalents are close but not exact: 3/16″ is 4.76 mm, while the metric size is 4.8 mm. That 0.04 mm rarely matters in the joint, but it matters for procurement. Stay in one series for the whole assembly so tooling, holes and replacement stock agree.

How to choose rivet diameter and length

Diameter follows the sheet. The working rule is that body diameter should be at least three times the thickness of the thickest sheet in the stack. Two 1.5 mm sheets give a minimum of 4.5 mm, so you step up to the nearest standard size, 4.8 mm.

Length depends on the rivet type, and this is where the internet gets it wrong.

For solid rivets, the classic formula applies: length equals total stack thickness plus 1.5 times the diameter, because that extra 1.5D is the material the hammer or squeezer forms into the second head. Two 0.060″ sheets with a 3/16″ rivet works out at 0.120″ + 0.282″ = 0.402″, so you pick the next standard length up.

For blind rivets, ignore the formula and read the grip table. Run that same 3.0 mm stack through the 1.5D rule with a 4.8 mm rivet and it tells you 10.2 mm, which points at a 4.8 × 12. Check the grip chart above and a 4.8 × 12 grips 6.0 to 8.0 mm, so a 3.0 mm stack would sit far below the minimum, the mandrel would break early and the joint would end up loose. The correct part is a 4.8 × 8, which grips 3.0 to 4.5 mm. The formula gets you into the neighbourhood; the grip range picks the part.

Also allow for hole misalignment in a real stack-up. If your parts are stamped rather than drilled and the holes can drift, size the grip so your worst-case thickness still lands inside the window rather than at its edge.

Solid rivet size chart (DIN 660, DIN 661 and ISO 1051)

Solid rivets are dimensioned by DIN 660 for round heads and DIN 661 for countersunk, both cross-referenced to ISO 1051. The standard fixes geometry and tolerances only; material and property class come from separate documents, which is why a drawing needs both callouts.

The table continues to 25 mm diameter, where the head reaches 50 mm. Two patterns are worth memorising: the round head is twice the shank diameter, and the countersunk head is about 1.87 times it. If a drawing shows a head that does not match either ratio, you are looking at a special, and it needs a dimensioned drawing rather than a standard callout.

Semi-tubular rivet sizing

Semi-tubular rivets sit between solid and blind. They have a shallow hole in the end that rolls outward under the roll-set, so clinch force runs well below a solid rivet of the same diameter, which is why they dominate high-volume impact riveting in brake assemblies, hinges, luggage hardware and binder mechanisms. A rivet counts as semi-tubular when the hole depth stays under 112% of the mean body diameter.

Sizing them is a set of ratios rather than a table:

• Shank diameter to stack thickness: between 1:1 and 1:3 for metal parts, closer to 1:1 for plastics.
• Clearance hole: 0.010″ to 0.015″ (0.25 to 0.38 mm) larger than the shank.
• End-hole diameter: 70% to 80% of the shank diameter. Thinner walls form more easily but give up joint strength.
• End-hole depth: 100% to 125% of the end-hole diameter, deep enough that the roll-set never strikes the solid body and swells the shank.
• Clinch allowance (stick-out): 50% to 55% of the shank diameter.

Worked through on a 4.0 mm shank through a 6 mm stack: the clinch allowance is 2.0 to 2.2 mm, so the shank length lands at roughly 8.0 to 8.2 mm. The clearance hole becomes 4.25 to 4.4 mm, the end hole 2.8 to 3.2 mm, and the end-hole depth 2.8 to 4.0 mm. Harder materials shift these numbers. Stainless needs more forming force than mild steel, raising the risk of shank swell, so the shank length and tooling both need reviewing when you switch.

Rivet material chart: strength and where each one belongs

Minimum shear and tensile values from DIN 7337, in newtons, for the three highest-volume diameters:

Read those columns sideways and you get the most useful fact in this whole article: material buys you more load capacity than size does. Going from 4.0 mm to 4.8 mm in aluminium takes shear from 800 N to 1400 N. Staying at 4.0 mm and switching from aluminium to A2 stainless takes it from 800 N to 2500 N, with no change to your holes, tooling or stack-up. When a joint fails on load, changing material is usually the cheaper fix.

Choosing between them in practice:

Aluminium body, steel mandrel is the commodity default: cheap, light, easy to set with hand tools, fine for indoor and dry service. The steel mandrel head left behind in the body is a galvanic liability once water gets involved, so it belongs indoors.

All-steel gives roughly double the aluminium strength at moderate cost, and needs plating or coating for any exposure.

A2 (304) stainless is the outdoor and washdown choice, and the strongest of the common options. A4 (316) goes further for marine and chloride environments. Specify all-stainless, body and mandrel both, or the mandrel becomes the corrosion path.

Copper and copper alloy trade strength for conductivity and are specified for electrical contacts, brushes and grounding hardware rather than structure.

Nickel alloy sits close to stainless on strength and is used where a specific corrosion or temperature spec calls for it.

For anything outdoors or in a wet enclosure, keep the rivet and the sheet close together electrochemically. An aluminium rivet in a stainless panel, or a steel mandrel in an aluminium skin, will show corrosion at the joint long before the panel itself gives up.

Five sizing mistakes that show up in rejected parts

1. Drilling the hole to nominal. A 4.8 mm rivet needs a 4.9 mm hole. Drill it at 4.8 and assembly slows to a crawl; go loose past the 5.1 mm maximum and the head can pull through.
2. Ordering by length instead of grip. A 4.8 × 12 and a 4.8 × 8 look one line apart on a purchase order and behave completely differently in a 3 mm stack.
3. Reusing a grip range after a material change. As shown above, the same geometry in aluminium, steel and stainless gives three different windows.
4. Standard heads on soft or thin material. A 4.8 mm dome head bears on 9.5 mm; the large flange bears on about 14 mm. On plastic, composite or thin gauge, that difference decides whether the head sinks.
5. An incomplete drawing callout. “4.8 × 12” specifies about half of what a factory needs. Head style, body material, mandrel material and finish are all still open, and each one changes the part you receive.

What to include when you request a quote

Sending these nine items in the first email removes a round trip and gets you a real price instead of a range:

1. Standard or drawing reference (DIN 7337, DIN 660, IFI-114, or your own part drawing)
2. Body diameter and length, or the stack thickness you need to grip
3. Head style and head diameter (dome, countersunk, large flange, custom)
4. Body material and, for blind rivets, mandrel material
5. Surface finish or plating, and any salt-spray hours you need to pass
6. Required minimum shear and tensile, if your application is load-bearing
7. Annual quantity and expected order pattern
8. Packaging (bulk, boxed count, tape-and-reel for automated feeding)
9. Service environment: indoor, outdoor, washdown, marine, electrical

When the chart does not have your size

Standard tables cover most assemblies and none of the interesting ones. If your stack falls between two grip ranges, if you need a head diameter that is not on any list, or if you need a shoulder rivet, a stepped shank or a specific stainless grade, that is a cold-forming job rather than a catalogue selection.

Yiwan Hardware runs multi-station cold upsetting, CNC, automatic lathes and punch presses in one factory, and we produce rivets, stainless semi-tubular rivets, pins, cold-forged components and machined parts for OEM customers. Non-standard lengths, custom head geometry and material substitutions are routine work here rather than exceptions, and because forming and machining sit under one roof, a sample cycle does not wait on an outside supplier.

Send your drawing or the nine items above to [insert sales email]. Sample lead time is typically [insert sample lead time], production lead time [insert production lead time], and our minimum order quantity is [insert MOQ]. Quality documentation available on request: [insert certifications, e.g. ISO 9001, material certs, RoHS].

Rivet size chart FAQ

What is the most common rivet size? There is no single standard size, but 3.2 mm (1/8″) and 4.8 mm (3/16″) are the two that appear in every head style and every material combination in DIN 7337, which makes them the easiest to source anywhere in the world and the safest default when a design allows a choice.

What size hole do I drill for a 3/16″ rivet? 4.9 mm nominal in the metric series. In the inch series, a #11 drill at 0.191″, with the finished hole between 0.187″ and 0.202″.

What does a 4-4 rivet mean? The first digit is the body diameter in thirty-seconds of an inch, so 4/32″ equals 1/8″ or 3.2 mm. The second is the maximum grip in sixteenths, so 4/16″ equals 1/4″ or 6.4 mm.

What is the difference between rivet length and grip range? Length is the physical body dimension measured from under the head. Grip range is the span of material thickness that length can actually clamp. The body is always longer than the maximum grip because part of it forms the blind head.

Can I use a rivet that is longer than I need? No. Above the maximum grip, the mandrel breaks before the blind head fully forms against the back sheet, leaving a joint that looks finished and is loose. Below the minimum grip, the surplus body has nowhere to go and either bulges unpredictably or holds the sheets apart.

Are metric and inch rivet sizes interchangeable? Dimensionally they are close: 3.2 mm to 1/8″, 4.0 mm to 5/32″, 4.8 mm to 3/16″, 6.4 mm to 1/4″. They are not identical, and they are specified by different documents (DIN 7337 and ISO 15983 versus IFI-114) with different tolerances and grip tables. Pick one series per assembly and stay in it.

How do I convert stack thickness to a rivet length? For solid rivets, add 1.5 times the diameter to the total stack thickness. For semi-tubular rivets, add 50% to 55% of the shank diameter. For blind rivets, do not calculate at all: find your stack thickness in the grip range column and read across to the length.