Fastening and Joining Reference Materials

Description: Precision Shims are used as compensators to absorb tolerances between mating components. They significantly reduce manufacturing costs by eliminating the need for each component to be precision ...

Description: It might be unusual to think of bolts and nuts as cutting-edge technology, but for at least 1,800 years these fasteners were nothing less. Until the Industrial Revolution, the six classical machines ...

Description: By utilising the total flexibility of the Smalley manufacturing process, it was possible to easily and inexpensively design a special 2-turn internal retaining ring for this tamper proof application. ...

Description: One of the most common wave spring applications world-wide is a bearing pre-load arrangement as illustrated. Having the proper load will often extend bearing life by lowering operating temperatures, ...

Description: To understand why custom threads are employed today we must first consider a brief history of the screw thread. The basic form of a thread had been known certainly since the bronze age and possibly ...

Description: The versatility of Coiled Spring Pins often times makes them the ideal fastener to meet the specific engineering and economic objectives of pinning applications. They are available in a wide variety ...

Description: One of the primary benefits of using a Coiled Spring Pin to affix a hub or gear to a shaft is the Coiled Pin's ability to prevent hole damage. Another benefit is that the Coiled Pin absorbs wider hole ...

Description: Angular roller bearings and ball bearings in an assembly typically require preloading in order to maintain a minimum designed axial force in the assembly. This minimum force is called the bearing ...

Description: The fastener is as important when automating as the automation equipment itself. Choosing the right fastener may prevent exorbitant machine and fixture costs, decrease set-up and cycle times, as well ...

Description: The Coiled Pin's tucked seam will allow smooth, interference-free rotation of hinge/axle components in the vast majority of assemblies. ...

Description: Press fit pins are retained in an assembly by the frictional forces between the pin and its mating host component. These forces are a product of the coefficient of friction between the mating ...

Description: In any assembled component there are two ways to reduce the overall cost of the assembly: reduce the cost of the individual components or reduce the cost to assemble the components. The Coiled Pin is ...

Description: Assemblies made of plastic or other soft materials often rely on threaded metal inserts to secure fasteners and reinforce joints. Though stainless steel may be appropriate for use in some applications ...

Description: What is the real cost of a component? When sourcing a fastener this is often taken as the one that costs less. However, it is not that simple and it has been a question that SPIROL has answered for ...

Description: Coiled pin design is such that, diameter will be within specification over a minimum of 270° of the circumference. This design characteristic ensures that diameter at the seam will remain equal to, or ...

Description: It has been traditionally thought that passivation is the standard method of cleaning stainless steel; when in fact passivation is not a cleaning process at all. The passivation process removes any ...

Description: It is often quicker and less expensive to use a shim, a thin piece of metal or composite, to level a machine tool or make components fit together, than grinding and machining to make the same ...

Description: A "Spring Pin" is appropriately named by its ability to flex into a hole that is smaller than the pin's original (pre-installed) outside diameter. A Spring Pin's tendency to return to its original ...

Description: There has been a bit of confusion and concern regarding two requirements that have recently become enforced policies; RoHS and DFARS (The Berry Amendment). These two policies may confuse some, but for ...

Description: An attempt is made to analyze strain and stress of different types of pins in more detail than the conventional consideration of the shear strength offers. The analysis reveals that there are cases in ...

Description: To select the most cost-effective alignment component, Design Engineers must focus on required positional tolerances, cost of secondary operations (reaming/honing holes), overall assembly weight, ...

Description: Corrosion of stainless and carbon steel are very different. This paper will provide information regarding general attack or surface corrosion as this is often a primary consideration when selecting ...

Description: Even though the application requirements do not justify it, fasteners used in medical devices are usually specified as extremely tightly toleranced parts. In addition, due to the unfamiliarity of the ...

Description: This informative document analyzes the differences between heat and ultrasonic installation of Threaded Inserts into plastic assemblies. ...

Description: There are two primary types of hinges: 1) a free fit hinge has little to no friction or drag when the latch or handle is rotated. Hinge components are "free" to rotate independent of one another, and ...

Description: When proper design guidelines are followed, companies can take advantage of the many benefits that Spring Pins offer. They significantly reduce the total cost of the assembly, lower insertion forces ...

Description: When installing Coiled Spring Pins, it is important that the installation tool, often called a "quill", is large enough to cover the entire end of the Coiled Pin. The quill should be sized such that ...

Description: Solving fastening problems is about controlling variables or eliminating potential causes that create an unwanted fastening event. Let's take a look at common unwanted fastening events. Cross ...

Description: A low key "snap" solved the problem of a metal-on-metal roar, secured a safety perimeter around thrashing robots, and defeated steel screws in a mushroom vs. thread competition. ...

Description: Throughout its entire lifespan, a bolt is in constant battle against settlement, relaxation and creep, with the slightest loosening or slackening having potentially devastating results. ...

Description: The decision on where to buy from may seem trivial considering the commoditized nature of fasteners, but the capabilities and approach your fastening partner uses impacts all facets of your ...

Description: Replacement of an Expensive and Unnecessary Patch Leads to a 63% Reduction in Fastener Costs ...

Description: When design engineers specify fasteners for product assemblies, systems or structures, they typically calculate the preload required for each bolted joint, then choose fasteners to meet those ...

Description: Most fasteners are tightened using traditional methods, such as manual torque wrenching, pneumatic impact wrenching, or automatic torque cutoff tools. As a result of this trend, a common question ...

Description: WHAT IS "STAINLESS" STEEL? By "stainless" is generally meant a large group of types of steel which contain at least 12% chromium (Cr) and often additions of other alloy substances, for example, nickel ...

Description: I...L *' Rust damage on products costs large sums every year, and can also cause breakdowns through various kinds of corrosion weakening sup porting structures. There are therefore strong reasons to ...

Description: Most fasteners are tightened using traditional methods such as manual torque wrenching, pneumatic impact wrenching, or automatic torque cutoff tools. These traditional methods have a well-known ...

Description: Fasteners are usually the smallest, least expensive components within an assembly. Even though fasteners usually hold the entire assembly together, they are often overlooked until the end of the ...

Description: The weakest sections of many plastic part designs are the joints and assembly points. During screw assembly of mating components, the screw has to be tightened with sufficient torque to produce the ...

Description: In applications where the mating component is also plastic, a Compression Limiter is necessary to avoid the creep or stress relaxation in the mating component from reducing the frictional load in the ...

Description: Self-pierce riveting (SPR) has been around for decades, so most are probably familiar with its basic premise. SPR is a cold joining process used to fasten two or more sheets of material by driving an ...

Description: A truck manufacturer switched most of its cab designs from the traditional stick frame to a more "automotive" monocoque construction. This significantly increased the number of material combinations ...

Description: The marketplace is flooded by offerings of some format of high performance self-tapping screw that claims to work better than anything else for threading into plastic. Most seem to have more than just ...

Description: Imagine harnessing the heat energy of a blast furnace while keeping the vibrational equivalent of a jet fighter's acceleration in check. This is essentially what diesel engine designers worldwide must ...

Description: Extreme shock, G-force, vibration, and temperature cycles assault every jet, rocket, and spacecraft repeatedly during thousands of hours of operational use. True mission success depends on how ...

Description: Whether the challenge is getting a bearing adapter to reliably withstand tremendous force in a U.S. locomotive bogie frame, retrofitting Chinese track to handle a doubling of train speed, or cutting ...

Description: Managers and engineers are understandably hesitant to change familiar production practices, but benefits to the bottom line through better joint integrity as well as streamlined assembly and ...

Description: In the world of engineered components, let's face it, fasteners aren't the first thing engineers think about. They're not exciting, they're not sexy. They're commonly treated as routine. But choose ...

Description: Failure is not an option when it comes to medical equipment. From critical or sensitive devices like lasers, MRI scanners, knee joints, and implantable pacemakers to instruments as straightforward as ...

Description: For engineers combating vibrational loosening, axial-torsional loading, joint fatigue, and ther mal extremes, conventional fastening methods involving standard 60 degree threads have posed design ...

Description: After a seven-year, two billion mile journey strapped to the side of the Cassini orbiter, the Huygens probe decelerated 12,000 mph in less than two minutes, before parachuting to the frozen surface of ...

Description: Extreme may be the new buzzword for dangerous sports and high-caffeine sports drinks, but for vehicle design engineers "extreme" has always been part of the job. "The challenge is to keep critical ...