What is a Spacer?

Spacers are unthreaded cylindrical fasteners fabricated from a variety of materials including brass, stainless steel, and nylon. Similar to standoffs, spacers differ in that they are unthreaded. Spacers fall under the broader categories of electronic hardware and printed circuit board (PCB) hardware as spacers are primarily used to separate (space) PCBs.  Spacers protect PCBs from heat damage by creating space for cooling air flow while also allowing PCBs to be stacked.

How Are Spacers Manufactured?

Spacers are typically fabricated using computer numerical control (CNC) machining or automatic lathe machining. CNC machining utilizes computer programs to control the machining process while automatic lathe machining automates the machining process through mechanical means. In either method the raw material is inserted into the machine and then rotated at varying speeds while cutting tools remove excess material until the final product is produced.

Leading Spacer Manufacturers

• Lyn-Tron
• RAF Electronic Hardware
• Keystone Electronics
• Unicorp
• Amatom
• Abbatron

Only Have a Product Description?

RAF and Lyn-Tron both offer convenient product configurators to help you find a manufacturer item number. Once you’ve located the item number or if you already have it, be sure to visit biscoind.com to get pricing and availability information.