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I keep finding these pegs in the steel cabinets I just bought for my garage. During the process of assembly and every time I move them, new ones keep appearing inside the cabinets.

Do they serve a purpose or are they a byproduct of the manufacturing process?

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They are the remnants from the rivets used to hold the pieces of steel together. Each rivet contains a piece that holds the metal together and a piece that looks similar to a finish nail. When the "nail like" piece is pulled by the riveting tool it distorts the head then breaks off.

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Pop Rivet set tool grips shank, draws ball head up through tube rivet to expand it till it bottoms out and breaks at neck inside tube rivet.

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    Mike is dead on. They are sloppy byproducts of the assembly process.
    – Speedy Petey
    Mar 2 '14 at 13:00
  • Pop rivets: google.com/…
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Mar 2 '14 at 16:53
  • Yep, cleanup is a good indicator of quality. It's one of the reasons most Japanese manufacturers and later, almost everyone else converted to investment casting for engines, etc. The end product is clean and close tolerance.
    – Fiasco Labs
    Mar 2 '14 at 16:54
  • Excellent explanation, since I had no idea what they were, and now I do.
    – ThePopMachine
    Mar 3 '14 at 17:15

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