Whats an “oops” rivet?
Van’s (and others) stocks “oops” rivets, more accurately called NAS1097. These are reduced head diameter flush rivets which have many useful applications. The NAS1097AD4 rivet has a -4 (1/8″) shaft but a -3 (3/32″) sized head. So if you mess up a -3 hole (bend over the rivet and wallow out the hole drilling it out for example) you can drill it out with a #30 drill and use one of these rivets and not have to re-dimple or countersink to a larger size. NAS1097AD3 rivets (-3 shaft and even smaller [-2?] head) have several uses. One is to rivet on nut-plates. The reduced head size means you can machine countersink in skins as thin as .025. Normally you wouldn’t want to use these in structural applications, but in the case of nut-plates, for which the rivets only serve to hold the nut-plate in place when torquing the bolt or screw, they are a handy solution. The head is so small that they only require a shallow countersink which can even be done with a deburring tool, so you don’t have to bo
