Rivets (eyelets) in PCBs?!

[eccerr0r]

I noticed some PCB manufacturers insert what appear to be rivets/eyelets in their single sided PCBs. What appears to be silly ways to do PTVs, this is clearly not the case as the board is SS.

So what are these rivets/eyelets for? They make desoldering annoying due to making a gap for solder to come out, though it does provide strength for the pads. Perhaps they were put there specifically to protect the pads? Then why isn't this common practice among all PCB manufacturers?

[stj]

it's to make the solder joint stronger - thats why it's on the heavy stuff like transformers

[eccerr0r]

On this particular board it's on transistors and capacitors too, though yeah I can see transformers and other heavy items... like heatsinks...

But not all manufacturers do this and thus it seems it's not absolutely necessary -- or perhaps this board was meant to be above and beyond other boards...?

[redwire]

I've seen rivets on pretty cheap phenolic PC boards with thicker wires going to the board. The rivet acts like a really strong pad, the wire threads through the hole so the wire's torque doesn't rip off the pad.
I think these rivets are inserted by hand, so not common practice.

I just worked on a really cheap phenolic pc board with rivets to the mounting brackets. Drilled them out but used pliers to pull it out and the board cracked. Hint: drill them right out if you are going to.

[stj]

very common on crt monitors.

[RukyCon]

From what I've seen, these are fairly common on some older LCD TV power supply boards, particularly those made by brands like Delta.