How to Select the Right Eyelet for Plated Hole Repair

Even in today's high-tech world, thousands of circuit boards were (and are still being) made with through-hole technology.

Experience tells me that many of these through-hole circuit boards will need a plated hole repaired at some point. Procedure 5.1 Plated Hole Repair may be the one that will save your irreplaceable electronic assembly.

As good as this procedure is, one section may cause even the most experienced repair technician some head scratching; it is how to select the right eyelet. I direct you to the "eyelet selection criteria" section of the procedure.

The eyelet inside diameter should be 0.075 to 0.500 mm greater than the component lead diameter. (That is 0.003" to 0.020" for some of us.) 

The length under the eyelet flange should be 0.63 to 0.890 mm greater than the thickness of the Printed Circuit Board. (That is 0.025" to 0.035".)

The outside diameter of the eyelet should allow the eyelet to be inserted into the drilled hole without force but should not exceed 0.125 mm (0.005") greater than the eyelet's outside diameter.

Eyelet presses are available specifically for setting eyelets into circuit boards.