Circuit-board fasteners that won't let go

The latest hardware is smaller, installs faster, and holds better. Special Products Manager PennEngineering Fastening Surface-mount fasteners are supplied on tape and reels, and install using standard automated surface-mount and solder-reflow processes. Panel fasteners permit quick removal and reinstallation of boards. They feature a steel retainer soldered to the board and a separate metal drive screw held in an ABS cap. A knurled shank on broaching fasteners provides a firm, interference fit that resists pullout and rotation. Miniature self-clinching fasteners require minimal space and provide strong, reusable threads in metal sheets as thin as 0.019 in. Self-expanding fasteners sink knurled teeth into the board while a shank expands to ensure contact. No matter how sophisticated electronics get, circuit boards and other components must still be securely attached to their housings if they are to deliver optimum performance. Incorporating printed-circuit (PC) boards into designs requires component-to-board, board-to-board, and board-to-chassis attachments. Some boards need to be stacked or spaced, and others have to be removed and reattached periodically. At the same time, board fabricators are under the gun to fit more into less space, do it faster, and with higher quality. To keep up with these demands, fastener manufacturers have improved their fasteners for PC boards, as well as the methods used to install them. In the electronics industry, concerns about damaging PC boards when installing fasteners in the final stages of assembly have prompted an innovative solution: surface-mount fasteners. These fasteners mount on PC boards in the same manner and at the same time as other surface-mount components, prior to the solder-reflow process. They use standard automated surface-mount techniques, and simply become another board component. Surface-mount nuts, spacers, and panel fasteners are already on the market, with right-angle fasteners and other variations slated for introduction in the near future. Panel fasteners, for