New PEM® PreTect™ Saves You Time & Money By Protecting Internal Threads During Paint & Powder Coating - Available Now At Zygology

All self-clinching fasteners provide permanent and reusable load-bearing threads in metal sheets where a strong, reliable and re-useable thread is required. Usually installed during the fabrication process, self-clinching fasteners become an integral part of the finished panel.

As a part of the fabrication process it is sometimes necessary to powder coat the assembly. However, without some form of protection, powder coating can be involuntarily applied to the threads leading to contamination with hardened paint. 

Previously the solution was to mask the threads prior to production, or manually clean out the threads by re-tapping, which are both time-consuming and labour intensive processes. So PEM developers sought to discover a better way of ensuring inserts were not compromised during the paint and powder coating process.

They found one.

New PEM PreTect thread masking plugs have been developed to save you assembly and production time and costs by ensuring the thread integrity of installed fasteners is protected and will not be impacted or damaged by paint or powder coatings as assemblies move through production. 

Available now from Zygology, the patented PreTect process for self-clinching nuts and standoffs protect internal threads and ensure you no longer incur the cost and labour of masking of threads in nuts and presses before painting during the production process.

The pre-installed silicone masking plugs and Kapton patches can be specified for self-clinching blind standoffs, thru-hole standoffs, and nuts in thread sizes #4-40 to ¼-20 and M3 to M6. 

PreTect assembled parts can withstand oven temperatures of up to 250ºC and can easily be removed after the paint process using a fine tip tool.

You can rest assured when using PreTect plugs and caps as they contain no hazardous materials, are RoHS compliant with no exemptions and do not contain any REACH SVHCs or CA Prop 65 substances.

Features & Benefits:

• Using these thread protectors, eliminates the need to manually protect the thread of the inserts prior to the processes of painting or coating.
• Avoid quality rejections due to compromised threads.Avoid damage to plating owing to re-tapping or other mechanical means of removing paint.
• Fasteners are delivered with plugs and Kapton film (where applicable) already in place.
• Plugs are augmented for thru-hole fastener types with a specially engineered stretched polyamide film offering thread protection on the side opposite the plug.
• Plugs and film easily removed with a fine tip tool by end user.
• Plugs and film can withstand 482°F / 250°C temperatures.
• Fasteners can be installed using automated installation equipment. (Adjustments to auto feed tooling may be required.)
• Non-hazardous, RoHS compliant.

Discussing the new PreTect thread masking plug, Zygology Sales Director, Richard Avery said, “Protecting threads from post assembly painting is a long standing problem for fabricators. Whilst shielding fasteners with silicone plugs, tape etc is not a new idea, having the parts supplied already prepared and protected for the paint process is.”

“Taking this problem out of the equation removes bottle necks in the assembly process, reduces time and labour costs whilst improving quality.”

If you’d like to find out more and discover how new PreTect thread masking plugs from PEM can improve your production process, saving you time and money by protecting your installed fasteners, get in touch with our friendly team of experts today on 0808 123 1221 or email sales@zygology.com.

About Zygology Ltd

With 40 years’ of experience Zygology is the country's main distributor for Penn Engineering and the largest distributor for Southco and POP Avdel in the UK. We are also the UK distribution hub for Masterfix fasteners and tooling. Zygology has also recently been appointed as an official distributor for Tesa assembly adhesive tapes. We have in-house repair facilities for POP Avdel and Masterfix tools. Zygology Ltd has an in depth knowledge of the products we sell and how they can be best incorporated into yours. We will always give the best advice we can - even if this sometimes means that we end up recommending a competing technology. We combine friendly service with competitive prices and excellent stock availability.