Right-angle clinch fasteners weigh in with strength

East Providence, RI--When Fillon Pichon USA wanted to create strong right-angle attachment points in two-piece enclosures for its precision table-top paint scales, the company turned to R'ANGLE(TM) fasteners from Penn Engineering & Manufacturing Corp. (Danboro, PA). The result: strong attachment points, half the amount of hardware, assembly time cut from 1 1/2 hours to 15 minutes, and the elimination of two major fabricating steps.

Fillon Pichon's FP7000 digital electronic paint scales weigh automotive paint for quick color mixing. "The scale is an extruded metal chassis that would normally require tabs punched and then bent to create right angles," explains Emile R. Charette, an engineer at fabricator RESH Inc. (Franklin, MA). "Those steps are no longer necessary with the R'ANGLE fasteners."

RESH fabricates the enclosures and installs the hardware prior to final assembly. The R'ANGLE fasteners, painted with a black finish, are pressed into 0.375- x 0.312-inch rectangular mounting holes. They clinch into the metal for permanent installation, leaving the reverse side flush.

Fillon Pichon then installs the load sensors and electronic components, and completes the final assembly--which requires only standard #6-32 thread-forming screws.

When the six R'ANGLE fasteners and their compatible thread-forming screws are installed, notes Art Bernier, systems manager at Fillon Pichon, the result is an extremely tight thread fit that resists vibration and has excellent strip-out characteristics. Even with repeated removal and re-installation of the screws during service, R'ANGLE fasteners hold tight, he adds. Reusability proved to be a big advantage.

"We were looking for production economies, standardized hardware, and performance," says Bernier. "We found them with R'ANGLE fasteners."