Standoff Fastener Description

Standoffs are fasteners used to create space between printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies and are the standard fastener for mounting PCBs to prevent electrical shorts. Standoffs are similar to spacers but differ in that they are threaded.

Standoff Fastener Styles  

Standoffs may be cylindrical, square or hexagonal in shape and come in male, female, male-male, or male-female styles. Standoffs are fabricated from various materials such as aluminum, brass, stainless steel and nylon. In addition, standoffs are often plated to meet application specific requirements.

Standoff Fastener Application Example

One application example for standoffs is the fastening of a motherboard (PCB) to a metal enclosure. In a typical scenario, male-female standoffs are fastened into pre-drilled metal ringed screw holes in the motherboard while the opposite end of the standoff is fastened to the enclosure wall. Mounting the motherboard in this manner prevents it from short circuiting.

Standoff Fastener Manufacturers

• Accurate Screw Machine (ASM)
• Amatom
• Bivar
• Concord Electronics
• ITW Fastex
• Keystone Electronics
• Lyn-Tron
• RAF Electronic Hardware

Configuring Standoff Fasteners

Since standoffs come in so many styles, sizes, and materials configuring the correct standoff for your application can be challenging. To aid you in configuring standoffs and other electronic hardware bisco has recently updated it’s RAF product catalog. Users can now browse and filter standoffs by style, material, diameter, length, thread size, and finish. Visit bisco’s online RAF product selector to learn more.