Crocs Heel Strap Replacement Rivet

thingiverse

Tom Gordon (GordonInnovations) has created an impressive design in his "Croc Heel Snap Replacement" (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1013692). It's incredibly durable, significantly stronger than the original equipment, and visually matches the original equipment perfectly. This design is also remarkably comfortable, making it nearly imperceptible once installed. Overall, it's a well-designed product that showcases Tom's expertise. Since discovering his design, I've replaced TWO of the rivets on my Crocs. During the first repair using Tom's version, I struggled to get the male part to fit onto the female part. It took me so long that the super glue (cyanoacrylate glue) had set before I could properly assemble it. To overcome this issue, I modified Tom's part by adding a slight bevel to the female part to aid in the insertion of the male part, resulting in version 2. This modification proved effective, and I was able to complete the repair without any further issues. However, after using that repair for several weeks, the back of the rivet began to pull through the shoe and detach the strap. To address this problem, I returned to Tom's design and enlarged the size of the rivet head, creating version 3. This modification appeared to resolve the issue, and I was able to install two of these modified rivets with apparent success. I'm now sharing the V3 design with you, as it has proven to be a reliable solution. Tom deserves all the credit for his initial work on this design; my contributions were simply adding a bevel and increasing the size of the rivet head. Thanks, Tom, for your outstanding work. When assembling the modified rivets, I found that using some sort of clamp is necessary to facilitate mating the two parts together. A one-handed bar clamp or a C-clamp works effectively in this regard. Both super glue and ABS glue have been used to attach the two parts of the rivet, with both glues performing equally well in this task.