What should you consider when selecting screws for your next project? The question is that technicians who assemble various products ask themselves when trying to find an ideal kind of custom screw for their work. Screw fasteners are distributed to different industries from automotive, construction, transportation to medical, mining, and furniture industries, custom screw options continue to revolutionize the fastening market. Advantages of choosing custom screw Made-to-Order The availability of a variety of custom screw options offers an endless list of possibilities for product designs. You can now order your fasteners with the preferred shape, head-size, length, and even threading size. Understanding these primary features allows development engineers to come up with better quality products for their companies. Mechanical Advantages The right customized fastener offers benefits on tailored installation torque required. Torque refers to the forces that move the screw and rotates it. Customizable fastener options allow the product developers to use the right amount of torque during the product fastening. This way, you can avoid breaks and loosening of other parts during assembly. Custom SEMS screws come with built-in washers to secure the screw in place, increasing product safety. Resistance to Rust Fasteners are subject to corrosion and loosening through wear and tear. Proper finish coatings of custom screws help to keep the screws resistant to corrosion. The advantage of custom screw options is that you choose the proper coating for your product. Chrome and zinc coatings are standard in the micro screw industry. The layers offer ideal polished finishes that have improved resistance to wear in, especially in tough environments. Strength Custom screw options come in different shapes and sizes, and in most cases, this determines their strength. A fastener is only useful if it can hold the screwed products firmly without bending or breaking. Customizable options provide an opportunity for you as a manufacturer to select the right threading and thickness of the screws. You can also select the correct thread depth for maximum robustness and minimized radial stress. Safety Standards The right machine screw assures improved security and performance for your products. Since 1927, the American National Standards Institute has provided manufacturing grades for all fasteners. The set quality ensures that the quality of the custom screws is not compromised, which in turn guarantees better product quality. Right Materials The use of custom screw options provides an opportunity to select the best materials depending on your products. Approximately 90% of all custom micro screws are made of stainless steel. Stainless steel has better tensile strength and is more durable than many other materials. You may also use bronze and brass alloys with increased resistance to corrosion. Aluminum is lightweight and customized for lighter machine parts and devices. Various types of materials used in the making of custom screws. Here are the material characteristics that you should consider to improve your custom screw sourcing The material's ability to resist corrosion When choosing materials for screws, you should consider whether the screws environment will be corrosive. Materials with high corrosion resistance such as steel are ideal for micro screws that will likely get exposed to corrosive conditions. Mechanical properties of the material Some metals are brittle and easy to bend and scratch. When such metals get used in making screws, it becomes hard to screw or unscrew some tight miniature screws. As such, you should look at the specific alloy strength of a material to determine whether the material can bear with various damaging forces. Aesthetics Aesthetics is the least important factor when compared to screw strength and durability. But it’s also essential where screws get used on prominent decorative pieces or devices. For example, a copper custom screw or copper-plated screw may have a better appearance when used on a prominent place than would be the case for a steel custom screw used in the same place. Operations of screw fabrication When choosing a material to make a screw, you should also look at the material’s ability to get processed with ease. Things to look at should include the strength of the material to be cold-headed, welded, or machined. The cost of the screw material The value of the metallic alloy to make the micro screws gets determined by considering factors such as the effective life-expectancy of the finished screws, the installed price, and the initial alloy cost. When materials match in strength, durability, fabrication needs, and mechanical properties, then cost, and aesthetics become the second-last considerations to make. The availability of the material The availability of the material is the last consideration to make. No matter how good a material is in making micro screws, if you can’t find the material in enough quantities, then you’re less likely to choose such material for your micro screw fabrication. The Most Preferred Screw Material in the Making of a Custom Screw Stainless steel material for fastener is the most affordable and abundant. It is a versatile material that you can combine with other metals to create durable alloys. Minerals that you can use to make steel alloys include silicon, cobalt, tungsten, copper, molybdenum, nickel, chromium, and manganese. It is hard, malleable, and durable. Your custom screw material options are extensive. Make careful considerations when selecting material for your screws.