Stainless Steel Socket Shoulder Metal Bolts Step Design for Engineering and Industrial Use 1/2 7/16 1

The shoulder serves as a dowel pin, providing a smooth, rigid axis for rotating components such as hinges, linkages, or gears. Unlike fully threaded bolts, the unthreaded shank eliminates friction between threads and moving parts, ensuring smooth rotation and reducing wear. This is critical in applications like robotic arms, conveyor systems, or packaging machinery.

The shoulder maintains precise axial alignment between assembled parts. For example, in automotive transmissions or aerospace actuators, it ensures gears or levers remain coaxial under load. Additionally, the shank acts as a spacer, controlling the distance between components. This is vital in electronic enclosures or hydraulic systems where exact clearances prevent interference.

The larger diameter of the shoulder distributes shear and axial loads over a wider area, reducing stress concentrations. This prevents deformation in softer materials (e.g., aluminum or plastic) and enhances joint longevity. In heavy machinery or injection molds, this function minimizes fatigue failure.

In plastic injection molds, shoulder bolts are used as ejector pins. The shoulder guides the ejector plate during demolding, ensuring smooth, linear motion while the threaded end secures the assembly. The shank withstands lateral forces during ejection, protecting threads from wear.

By isolating the threaded section from moving parts, the shoulder prevents thread damage during assembly/disassembly. This is essential in maintenance-heavy equipment like printing presses or CNC machines.

Shoulder bolts are manufactured from high-strength materials such as alloy steel, stainless steel (corrosion-resistant), or thermoplastic (for lightweight applications). They are often heat-treated or coated (e.g., zinc plating) to enhance durability. Standard sizes (per ASME B18.3) are available, but custom dimensions (shoulder length/diameter) accommodate specialized designs.

• Machinery: Essential for ensuring precise alignment and smooth movement in sliding components, especially in transmission systems.
• Automotive: Commonly found in suspension systems, engines, and brakes, linking bushings and bearings for smooth rotation.
• Electronics: Crucial in maintaining proper spacing between circuit boards and chips, preventing electrical interference.
• Mold Manufacturing: Used for guiding parts within molds, ensuring smooth sliding and maintaining mold precision.
• Furniture Hardware: Shoulder bolts are used in hinges and sliding rails to control movement and increase furniture durability.
• Aerospace: Applied in aerospace components where high precision and stability are necessary for positioning parts reliably.
• Industrial Automation: Shoulder bolts support smooth and accurate movement in robotic arms, conveyors, and automated machinery.
• Medical Equipment: Used in adjustable medical devices to ensure smooth, controlled movement for improved functionality.
• Tooling & Fixtures: Key in maintaining alignment and spacing in manufacturing jigs and fixtures to ensure consistent precision.
• Construction & Heavy Equipment: Shoulder bolts are used in structural components to provide stable movement and reliability under heavy loads.

Stainless steel is an alloy material with corrosion resistance, and its main components are an alloy of elements such as iron, chromium and nickel. These elements can effectively resist oxidation and corrosion, so that stainless steel has a high degree of durability and aesthetics.

Cleaning: Keeping stainless steel products clean is an important part of their maintenance. You can use mild detergents and soft cloth for cleaning, avoid the use of detergents containing acidic and alkaline components, so as not to damage the surface of stainless steel. When removing dirt, you should try to avoid using irritating cleaning tools to avoid scratching the stainless steel surface. After cleaning, rinse with water and dry with a clean soft cloth.

Stain Remover: For some stubborn dirt, you can use special stainless steel stain remover for cleaning. But before using it, you should carefully read and follow the instructions in the product manual. In addition, stainless steel products on the dirt can be cleaned with alcohol or vinegar, these common cleaners on stainless steel has a certain decontamination effect.

201, 304, 316 are austenitic stainless steel, according to the performance of the non-magnetic, some of the performance of the weak magnetic because of the smelting of the composition of the segregation or improper heat treatment leads to the austenite in a small amount of martensite or ferrite. Austenitic stainless steel corrosion resistance comes from the formation of chromium oxide protective layer on the metal surface.

304 is a general-purpose stainless steel that is widely used to make equipment and machine parts that require good all-round performance (corrosion resistance and formability). In order to maintain the corrosion resistance inherent in stainless steel, the steel must contain more than 18% chromium, more than 8% nickel content. 304 stainless steel is a grade of stainless steel produced according to the American ASTM standard.

A2 is a class of 304 stainless steel, A4 is a class of 316 stainless steel, the main difference between the two is here, some of the fastener industry will be 302HQ and 304 referred to as: A2, 316 and 316L (C content of carbon C is less than 03% of the stainless steel, you can increase the 'L' logo) called A4.

Nuts are usually used in conjunction with bolts. Hexagonal nuts are more widely used. C-grade hexagonal nuts are used in steel structures, machinery and equipment with rough surfaces and low requirements for precision. A-grade and B-grade hexagonal nuts are mainly used in machinery and equipment with smooth surfaces and high requirements for precision.