JP2005209727A - Spacer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spacer that can be mounted even if no internal threads are formed at a target to be mounted in advance. <P>SOLUTION: The spacer for arranging a member with a prescribed gap is formed by a nearly columnar body 1 that is formed by nonconductive plastic and has the internal thread 3 at one end, and a tapping screw 2 that is formed by a material having higher toughness than that of the body 1 while a head 2a is sealed to the inside of the body 1 and the tip projects from the other end of the body 1. An operation surface for rotating the tapping screw 2 around the shaft is provided at the outer periphery of the body 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a spacer for securing a predetermined clearance and attaching a member, and more particularly, to a spacer that can be attached to a portion where a female screw is not formed.

  When installing a printed circuit board in a housing of an electronic device, it is necessary to provide a space between the housing so that a module already mounted on the printed circuit board does not interfere with the housing.

  Conventionally, in order to provide such a space, a method has been used in which a columnar protrusion is provided on the inner surface of the housing, and a female screw is formed on the protrusion to fix the printed board.

  Generally, since a housing of an electronic device is formed by a resin mold, it is easy to form a columnar protrusion, but it is difficult to tap a female screw on this, and the manufacturing cost of the housing increases.

  Therefore, instead of providing columnar protrusions on the housing and forming female screws, a columnar member (spacer) is interposed between the housing and the printed circuit board, so that the module and the housing that are already mounted on the printed circuit board In some cases, a technique is used to prevent interference with the. With such a configuration, the position for forming the female screw does not have to be a protrusion, so that the manufacturing cost of the housing can be reduced.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, even when a plurality of printed circuit boards 10 are installed in the casing of the electronic device, a module that is already mounted on the printed circuit board 10 by arranging the spacer 20 between the printed circuit boards 10. Space is provided so that 50 does not interfere. In this case, it is necessary to form the spacer 20 using an insulating material so that the printed circuit boards 10 do not conduct each other.

As an example of the spacer according to the prior art, there is a “printed board support” disclosed in Patent Document 1.
JP 2000-101268 A

However, it is not easy to tap a female screw on the housing itself even at a portion that is not a protrusion, and if work is prioritized, there is a restriction in designing the housing.
Further, in the configuration in which the female screw is tapped directly on the housing, if tapping fails even at one location, the housing must be treated as a defective product, and the yield is reduced.

  As described above, the conventional spacer has a problem that an internal thread has to be formed in advance on an attachment target in order to be attached.

  This invention is made | formed in view of this problem, and it aims at providing the spacer which can be attached even if it does not form the internal thread beforehand in the attachment target object.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides, as a first aspect, a spacer for arranging a member with a predetermined gap, formed of non-conductive plastic, and provided with a screw hole at one end. It has a substantially columnar main body and a tapping screw that is formed of a material having higher toughness than the main body, the head is sealed inside the main body, and the tip protrudes from the other end of the main body. The spacer is provided with an operation surface for rotating the tapping screw.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided, as a second aspect, a spacer for arranging a member with a predetermined gap, formed of non-conductive plastic, and provided with a blind hole at one end. A substantially columnar main body and a tapping screw that is formed of a material having higher toughness than the main body, the head is sealed inside the main body, and the tip protrudes from the other end of the main body. Provides a spacer characterized in that an operating surface for rotating the tapping screw is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a spacer that can be attached without forming an internal thread in advance.

[First Embodiment]
A first embodiment in which the present invention is suitably implemented will be described. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a tapped screw spacer according to the present embodiment. The spacer with a tapping screw according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which a part of the tapping screw 2 protrudes from one end of a substantially hexagonal column-shaped main body 1. The tapping screw 2 is a P-type screw (tapping screw for plastic).
The main body 1 is formed of a non-conductive plastic, and the parallelism of both end faces and the perpendicularity between the both end faces and the longitudinal direction are within predetermined tolerances. The tapping screw 2 is made of metal, and its head 2 a is sealed inside the main body 1.
The material of the main body 1 is preferably a plastic having thermoplasticity, particularly preferably polyacetal resin, PC (polycarbonate), or PBT (polybutylene terephthalate). Among these, PBT is most preferable because it is excellent in mechanical strength (tensile strength) and heat resistance. Moreover, as a material of the tapping screw 2, a material having higher toughness than the main body 1 and harder than a member to be attached is applied. For example, hardened steel, ceramic, titanium and the like are preferable, and SWCH16A which is a carbon steel wire for cold heading is most preferable.

  The main body 1 has a female screw 3 formed at the end opposite to the side from which the tapping screw 2 protrudes. The female screw 3 is a general triangular screw such as a metric screw or an inch screw.

  FIG. 2 shows a method of using the tapped screw spacer according to the present embodiment. When attaching the spacer with a tapping screw according to this embodiment, the tip of the tapping screw 2 is inserted into the prepared hole as shown in FIG. And the main body 1 is clamped and rotated using tools, such as a spanner, a spectacle wrench, and a monkey wrench. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 2B, the tapping screw 2 advances in the pilot hole while cutting the screw.

  When the main body 1 is rotated until the end surface comes into contact with the mounting surface, the female screw 3 is installed at a predetermined height from the mounting surface as shown in FIG.

  Since the tapping screw 2 is electrically separated from the female screw 3, insulation is ensured.

  By attaching a conventional spacer to the female screw 3, it is possible to install a plurality of printed circuit boards inside the electronic device.

  Thus, since the spacer with a tapping screw according to the present embodiment does not need to form a female screw in advance in the attachment target, it is possible to improve the workability of the manufacturing process of the electronic device casing.

[Second Embodiment]
A second embodiment in which the present invention is suitably implemented will be described. FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a spacer with a tapping screw according to the present embodiment. Similar to the first embodiment, the spacer with a tapping screw according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which a part of a P-type tapping screw 2 protrudes from one end of a substantially hexagonal column-shaped main body 1. A head 2 a of the tapping screw 2 is sealed inside the main body 1. As in the first embodiment, the main body 1 is made of non-conductive plastic, and the parallelism of both end faces and the perpendicularity between the both end faces and the longitudinal direction are within a predetermined tolerance. The tapping screw 2 is made of a metal such as hardened steel. A head 2 a of the tapping screw 2 is sealed inside the main body 1. About the material of the main body 1 and the tapping screw 2, it is the same as that of 1st Embodiment.

  The main body 1 has a pilot hole 4 at the end opposite to the side from which the tapping screw 2 protrudes. The pilot hole 4 is a hole having a diameter and a depth at which the tapping screw 2 can be screwed.

  The method of attaching the tapped screw spacer to the attachment object is the same as in the first embodiment.

When a plurality of printed circuit boards are installed inside the electronic device, the printed circuit board 10 is arranged on the surface of the main body 1 on the side of the prepared hole 4, and the spacer with a tapping screw according to the present embodiment is further attached to the prepared hole 4.
Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4, the printed circuit board 10 is sandwiched between the end faces of the main body 1 of the spacer 4 with a tapping screw.

Since the spacer with a tapping screw according to the present embodiment does not need to be tapped on the main body, the manufacturing process can be simplified and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.
Moreover, the spacer with a tapping screw concerning this embodiment can use the thing of the same structure by the 1st step | paragraph and the 2nd step | paragraph or more, when arrange | positioning multistage.

Each of the above embodiments is an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these.
For example, in each of the above embodiments, the case where the main body 1 has a substantially hexagonal column shape has been described as an example. However, the main body 1 may have any shape as long as it can easily transmit torque to the tapping screw 2. For example, an arbitrary polygonal column shape may be used, or a shape in which a cutout is provided in a part of a cylinder may be used.
In the second embodiment described above, the pilot hole 4 is a hole having a diameter and a depth at which the tapping screw 2 can be screwed. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. That is, when the tapped screw spacers are connected in multiple stages, it is not necessary that all the stages are the same.
Thus, the present invention can be variously modified.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the spacer with a tapping screw concerning 1st Embodiment which implemented this invention suitably. It is a figure which shows the attachment state of the spacer with a tapping screw concerning 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the spacer with a tapping screw concerning 2nd Embodiment which implemented this invention suitably. It is a figure which shows the attachment state of the spacer with a tapping screw concerning 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the state attached through the spacer so that the modules mounted in the printed circuit board may not interfere.

Explanation of symbols

1 Body 2 Tapping Screw 2a Head 3 Female Screw 4 Pilot Hole 10 Printed Circuit Board 20 Spacer 50 Module

Claims (2)

A spacer for placing a member with a predetermined gap,
A substantially columnar body made of non-conductive plastic and provided with a screw hole at one end;
A tapping screw formed of a material having higher toughness than the main body, the head is sealed inside the main body, and the tip protrudes from the other end of the main body,
An outer surface of the main body is provided with an operation surface for axially rotating the tapping screw. A spacer for placing a member with a predetermined gap,
A substantially columnar body formed of non-conductive plastic and provided with a blind hole at one end;
A tapping screw formed of a material having higher toughness than the main body, the head is sealed inside the main body, and the tip protrudes from the other end of the main body,
An outer surface of the main body is provided with an operation surface for axially rotating the tapping screw.

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