Quality Practices

Helicoil Wire Inserts for Modern Manufacturing

image of a Helicoil insert

In the dynamic world of manufacturing and engineering, fasteners play a crucial role in ensuring the integrity and longevity of assembled components. When it comes to threaded connections, issues like thread damage, wear, and stripped threads can pose significant challenges. This is where Helicoil inserts come to the rescue, offering a reliable and effective solution for thread reinforcement.

While widely known for its use in stripped thread repair for bolted joints, threaded inserts also allow for a strengthened threaded hole in softer materials like wood, plastic, composite sandwich panels, and softer metals such as aluminum. This attribute gives helicoil inserts an important role in today’s modern manufacturing with 3-D printed parts, lightweighting, composites, and increased use of plastics.

What are Helicoil Inserts?

Helicoil inserts are precision-engineered coils of wire with a diamond-shaped cross-section. These inserts are designed to be installed into a tapped hole, providing a stronger and more durable threaded connection. This is especially useful where you need to have a durable, reusable thread that is stronger than the surrounding material or in softer metals prone to galling.

Helicoil and 3-D Printed Manufacturing

3-D printed parts require post-processing before they are ready for assembly. In addition to the usual finishing techniques of sanding and smoothing, metal inserts should be used where bolted joints are required. This adds durability to your threaded hole to allow for repeat assembly and disassembly as well as providing clean engineered threads.

Helicoil and Composite Panels

Core Blocking allows Helicoil inserts to be used to create a solid mounting point in composite honeycomb and skinned core panels by installing a solid block of material into the panel core to accommodate a drilled hole and helicoil insert.

Suitable for high-volume production

Helicoil offers power tools and strip feed options to speed up assembly with precision in production environments. These tools can be configured for hand-held operation or mounted for repeat accuracy during assembly.

Threaded inserts have evolved from their humble beginnings in the aerospace industry and their utility has far outstripped their reputation in thread repair. With a wide range of inserts and coated options available, Helicoil has an insert for your application. The Assembly Technology Experts at Bossard are more than happy to discuss threaded inserts in greater detail. Contact us to find the right fasteners for your application at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

 

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Bossard
December 20, 2023
Production, Fabricated Metal Products, Quality Practices, Fastener Technology
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3 Bossard Resources to Help You Save Money & Increase Efficiency

Bossard Mobile

When you need information about our extensive line of fasteners or are looking for answers to your assembly questions, the best thing you can do is contact your local Bossard contact. We can then discuss your concerns in detail and offer solutions tailored to your needs.

But we also know that you sometimes need information right now or are too busy to take the time for a consultation. You can still get the help you need by checking out our convenient online resources. All offer complimentary unlimited access, but some may require that you register for free.

Online Calculators and Converters for Fasteners

If you’re an engineer, technician, designer, or student that researches, develops, or assembles bolted joints, you can take advantage of these online tools:

  • Converters for transforming among different units such as force, pressure, hardness, torque, and length.
  • Geometric calculators for the dimensions needed when implementing joining solutions.
  • Mechanical calculators for the dimensions needed when designing joining technologies.

We also offer an app that you can download to your compatible device that contains many of these resources. The app is available on the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store.

Savings through Smart Factory Logistics

Bossard’s Smart Factory Logistics methodology introduces innovative systems and custom solutions based on the Internet of Things. Designed to optimize your supply chain for smarter performance, it’s easy enough to say that our implementation will save you money. But you can also calculate your potential savings if you modify your logistics system.

Our Potential Savings worksheet asks you to enter information about your current situation, such as the number of articles, deliveries, and suppliers, and the cost basis of your operating procedures. It then encourages you to put in the changes you would like in the future. Your estimated potential savings calculates as a percentage. You can use this worksheet as a starting point when talking to your local Bossard contact.

Technical Resources

When you need in-depth information, check out our Technical Resources, which gathers white papers, diagrams, tables, and other documents related to fastening technology and assembly solutions.

For information about how Bossard can assist you, contact us now at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

Bossard
February 28, 2020
Quality Practices
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Learn How to Design Your Best Product with Bossard Expert Design

Design Your Best Product

The development of our Assembly Technology Expert services improves the use of fasteners in prototypes, new or existing products, and current assembly processes. But they are also useful for having you focus on fasteners when you’re still designing it through the Expert Design method.

What is Expert Design?

When you create a new product, beating the competition while maintaining high quality and safety standards and minimizing the time to market is no small feat. Integrating fastening functions can be demanding, even though the function of a fastener is often seen as trivial.

Based on 3D prototyping and CAD Big Data Analytics, our Expert Design method recommends ways to use materials and optimize assembly to increase the success of the final product.

The benefits include a better in-place cost because you choose the best fastening option, lower production cost due to faster assembly processes, and a lower life-cycle cost because the incorporation of the correct fastening solutions happens from the very beginning.

Technical Resources

To help you with this method, Expert Design offers you the following online resources.

  • Online Calculators and Converters for Fasteners. Includes converters for torque, pressure, length, and force for free. If you log in, you also get hardness converters, a pilot hole designer for tapping screws and ecosyn®-plast, and more online calculators for technical design. Many of these online aids are also available through an app that is available either on the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store.
  • CAD Online Portal. This online portal allows you to view and manipulate a variety of fasteners in 3D or 2D while giving you specific information about their sizes and uses. If you find a component particularly useful, you can generate a CAD model or create a PDF datasheet but only if you log in first.
  • Technical Information. Enjoy a variety of useful white papers, conversion tables, articles, diagrams, and reference values about all types of fasteners and joints. You can download PDF versions of what you find if you log in.

Discover what else our Expert Design services can offer you. Email us today at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

Bossard
August 16, 2019
Quality Practices
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Improve Your Plating and Coatings Strategy

Plating and Coating

Are you still using the same fastener finish that you did ten years ago? Electroplating, the “gold standard” fastener finish is NOT the same as it was five and ten years ago.

The major change to zinc electroplating over the last ten years is a switch from hexavalent chromium to trivalent which is less toxic to the environment. Some countries and specific industries have regulations banning hexavalent chrome which is forcing platers to change formulas. If you don’t need RoHS or REACH compliant fasteners, odds are your fastener finish has changed without your knowledge.

3 Reasons Why Updated Fastener Finishes Should Be Important to You

  1. If you’re still buying yellow zinc, you could be paying too much. Hexavalent chrome was yellow by default, but trivalent is clear colored. If you are getting yellow trivalent, you are paying to have a dye added to the finish which may not be necessary.
  • Your corrosion protection may be less than expected. Trivalent chromate is not “self-healing” like hexavalent. This could lead to premature white corrosion products and dissatisfied customers.
  • The coefficient of friction is different between hexavalent and trivalent chrome which could cause problems during assembly with stretching and breaking bolts using the same torque as you have always used.

What Are Alternative Finishes to the Standard Electroplated Zinc?

  • Zinc flake coating offers high corrosion protection, no HE risk and a controlled CoF to ensure more consistent joint clamp load
  • Phosphate coatings offer good shelf life protection from corrosion and provide a good base for paint
  • Epoxy electrocoat finishes offer a very nice uniform black cosmetic finish while providing good corrosion protection and no HE risk

Bossard offers Expert Education seminars as webinars or in person at your facility, tailored to your specific questions and needs. For a full seminar on Plating and Coatings, contact us at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

Doug Jones
Applications Engineer
djones@bossard.com

Bossard
May 17, 2019
Quality Practices
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3 Solutions for Nylon Insert Nut Challenges

Challenges with Nylon Insert Nuts

If you use nylon insert lock nuts in production, it is more than likely that you have run into some issues like the ones pictured below:

Nylon Insert Nut 1 Nylon Insert Nut 2 Nylon Insert Nut 3

Causes

Why does this happen, and usually only in January through March?

The inserts are made of 66 nylon which is hydroscopic, meaning it can absorb moisture up to 8% of its weight. When exposed to temperature extremes and low humidity, the nylon will lose moisture and can shrink slightly and in some cases become brittle. These conditions are not relevant once the insert is installed, but if the nylon has become too dry prior to assembly, then we can see problems like those pictured above.

Certain assembly conditions can contribute to failure of a dried out insert, such as:
• Poor or no chamfer on mating threads
• Long thread engagement
• High assembly speed
• Any combination of the above conditions

If the insert is very dry and brittle, and the mating thread has a poor chamfer, we can see breaking of the nylon, especially if the assembly speed is very fast as with an impact gun.

Long thread engagements coupled with high speeds seem to heat-up the dried out nylon enough to cause it to extrude out the top of the nut. This can happen with properly hydrated nylon as well, especially if the pitch diameter of the mating thread is at the upper end of tolerance (the nylon has to go someplace) but it seems to happen more when the nylon is dried out.

In extreme cases of dried out inserts, such as those run through a bake oven for some type of post finish (zinc flake for example), the inserts may spin freely in their cavity prior to installation. When the mating part is introduced, some inserts may be pushed out of the nut without even forming threads into the nylon ring.

Solutions

  1. Packaging/environment
  • Wherever possible, keep nuts sealed in their original containers until they are ready to be consumed.
  • Do not store more nuts than needed in extreme cold and/or dry environments.
  1. Assembly
  • Check for chamfers on mating parts – a smooth entry into the nylon will lessen potential problems.
  • Avoid long thread engagement if possible.
    • If not possible, adjust speed down to lessen heat build-up.
  • Check speed of assembly – try slowing down the speed if problems occur.
  1. Additional Insert Material
  • If these solutions do not resolve the issues, then consider another type of insert material.
  • High temperature materials are available that are not as sensitive to environment.

For questions, please contact our Engineering team at ProvenProductivity@Bossard.com.

For more shopping options click here.

Doug Jones
Applications Engineer
djones@bossard.com

Bossard
June 22, 2018
Fabricated Metal Products, Quality Practices, Fastener Technology
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Joining CFRP: Attachment Methods for bigHead® Fasteners

bigHead® Fasteners

Choosing the right method of attachment for bigHead® fasteners can literally make or break your application. With innovations in materials and processes daily, in a continuously growing industry, choosing the right technique is imperative. It all comes down to details.

When it comes to Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) and attaching fasteners there are a few methods to consider. Today, traditional adhesive bonding methods are still effectively used in many production environments.  However, we have new techniques currently in development which include lean bonding and pre-form mechanical fixing prior to molding.

The lean bonding solution utilizes a pre-applied dry film adhesive, induction heating and pressure to reduce bonding time dramatically. Bonding times well under a minute can be expected. As an alternative to the adhesive bonding methods, bigHead® fasteners can be attached to CFRP by stitching, tufting, over-laminating or clinching into the pre-formed material.

For a more practical application, outlined below are techniques for attaching fasteners into dry fiber pre-forms:

  • Over-laminated: Either with ply-drops/localized or overlay holes to accommodate for stud
  • Stitching/tufting: Fastener retained in place by stitching into pre-form
  • Pocket stitched: Like over-laminated, but with stitching around the fastener to secure inside “pocket”
  • Pre-coupled patch: Fiber patch pre-applied to fastener and incorporated into molding (can be attached by adhesive or stitching/tufting)
  • Clinched: Fastener with spiked protrusions that embed into the pre-form

If you have any questions about bigHead® fastener attachment techniques into preformed CFRP please contact us through ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

Bossard
February 16, 2018
Quality Practices, Fastener Technology
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7 Types of Cable Clamps

Cable Clamps

Organizing cables can be a nightmare if it’s not done right the first time. Cable clamps help ensure the work being done is kept neat and clean by providing an assortment of options based on the cable that is being installed. Clamps range from self-aligning, hinged locking, compression, stainless steel, steel cushion and vinyl coated. With several options readily available, it’s best to customize the clamp to the type of cable being implemented and the environment that the cable is being installed in.

Self-Aligning Clamps

Self-aligning clamps are designed with rounded edges to reduce the hazard of chafed cables. The style of the self-aligning clamp also safeguards the cables with the interlocking technology that mounts and secures the line so that it cannot separate from the brace.

Hinged Locking Clamps

Hinged locking clamps have a hinged design that locks in place while providing tension relief from the wires. These unique brackets also reduce vibration as they hold the cables securely in place.

Compression Cable Clamps

Compression cable clamps also operate on a hinge. Unlike the hinged locking clamps, the compression braces allow for the addition and removal of cables over time. These could be useful when implementation of future cables is expected.

Steel Cable Stays

Steel cable stays offer a quick and simple way to secure cables. These steel cable stays have an adhesive back support that offers a secure grip for cable installation.

Stainless Steel Cable Clamps

Stainless steel cable clamps were designed to tolerate tougher environments. Their corrosion resistant construction and thoughtfully stamped edges ensure a secure hold for cables. The style, much like the self-aligning clamps, also protects wires from deteriorating from friction.

Steel Cushion Clamps

Steel cushion clamps have an EPDM cushion that lines the inner workings of the clamp. This rubber lining absorbs vibrations and provides insulation for electrical wiring. These braces also resist erosion as part of its zinc electroplated make-up.

Vinyl Coated Clamps

Vinyl coated clamps offer more flexibility. There are two types: the steel clamp and the steel spring clamp. They both offer a grip and insulation through the vinyl construction. The softer steel offers the ability to manipulate the shape based on the wires that are being installed. It’s also worth noting that the spring clamps may show more favor to ribbon cables while still supporting rounded cables too. While these clamps fasten to the wall, their flexibility allows them to remain fastened as adjustments are made to the actual hold of the cables.

Not sure which cable clamp is best for your application? Contact us at ProvenProductivity@Bossard.com to speak with one of our engineers.

Bossard
February 09, 2018
Electronic & Electricals, Quality Practices
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A Complete Guide to European Standards

Standardization in the fastener industry is a necessity. Without fastener standards, there would be inconsistency and inefficiency. Because of fastener standards, engineers and consumers alike know exactly what to expect.

Because of the consistency that comes along with standards, international business and trade becomes much easier. Companies can purchase products from around the world and can rest easy knowing that the product will fit in their application. There are many organizations that create fastener standards; one of these organizations is the European Committee for Standardization.

In 1991, the European Committee for Standardization, also known as CEN, began working on the standardization of the fastener industry intended to be applicable throughout Europe. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards are adopted as European (EN) standards wherever possible. However, new EN standards are established when the ISO standards are not deemed suitable.

German Institute for Standardization (DIN) standards are being replaced by EN or ISO standards. In the future, DIN standards will apply only to products for which no ISO or EN standard exists.

DIN EN ISO plus a number (e.g. DIN EN ISO 4027) would indicate that a combination of all three standards are acceptable.

DIN ISO plus a number (e.g. DIN ISO 7049) indicates an ISO standard that is an adopted unchanged DIN standard.

Standards can sometimes be confusing. If you have any questions about fastener standardization, let us know by reaching out to us at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.

 

Joe Stephan
Application Engineering
jstephan@bossard.com

Bossard
September 29, 2017
Quality Practices
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Length of Engaged Thread

Length of Engaged Thread

Length of engagement is important to understand. The required minimum length of engagement changes for different materials and hardness of said materials. This is something that needs to be determined during the design process.

When screws need to be fully loaded in tensile, it is important to note the strength of the material that the ‘nut’, or female threaded component, is made of. The minimum length of the engaged thread will depend on it. Ultimately, it is important to achieve the required minimum length to give the joint the durability it needs.

Below are some examples of recommended minimum lengths of engaged thread in internal threads based on the material of the nut component for heat-treated steel bolts. These have been determined from practical trials:

Recommended minimum lengths of engaged thread in internal threads.

Make sure the toolbox of information needed to determine the proper length of engagement is readily available. Reach out to us at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com if there is any questions regarding this!

Bossard
June 02, 2017
Quality Practices, Fastener Technology
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Fatigue Resistance in Fasteners

Fatigue Resistance in Fasteners

Simply put, you want your fasteners to hold up under many situations including conditions of changing load. However, some fasteners cannot hold up to the challenge. One of the most common forms of fastener failure is fatigue. That is why fatigue resistance and strength is something to look for in your fasteners.

A fastener can experience fatigue for a variety of reasons including assembly parameters, fastener material, geometry, and stress on the fastener. Fatigue often occurs in the first load-bearing part of the thread, and it can be detrimental to your project. This means your design must allow for screws to increase its fatigue strength. However, the fatigue strength of fine threads decreases with increased rigidity and fineness of thread, so there are some things to keep in mind with fatigue strength in your fasteners.

There are ways to increase the fatigue strength of your screws. These would include measures that reduce the effective peak stresses or prevent combined loading.

Check out some options for increasing your fatigue strength:

  • Use longer screws rather than shorter screws
  • Use screws with waisted shanks
  • Use pins or fitted shoulder screws to absorb lateral forces
  • Adequate and controlled pre-stressing of the screws

Reach out to us at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com to learn more about fatigue resistance and to find the fastener with the perfect fatigue strength for you.

Bossard
May 26, 2017
Quality Practices, Fastener Technology
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