WINTER 2021

28
THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK
London Penland Business Development Director
EUROLINK FASTENER SUPPLY SERVICE
840 South Buncombe Road, Greer, SC 29650
TEL 864-801-0505 FAX 864-801-3606
EMAIL sales@eurolinkfss.com WEB www.eurolinkfss.com
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN CONVERTING
BETWEEN METRIC FASTENER STANDARDS
Eurolink Fastener Supply Services specializes in
sourcing those relatively hard-to-find metric fasteners
that are not commonly stocked in the United States.
In order to provide customers with value, we give them
fast access to over 100,000 C-class parts stocked
or produced in Europe. Our solutions allow distributor
customers to expand their product capabilities, quickly
obtain parts needed for MRO, bring in smaller quantities
than would generally be required for shipping from Asia,
and rest assured that Eurolink has the expertise and
systems in place to most effectively import parts from
Europe.
Eurolink’s niche has enabled us to be at the
forefront of helping supply chains make purchasing
decisions in regards to DIN and ISO-standard fasteners.
In order to provide further value for our customers,
Eurolink has made education around this topic one
of our key marketing priorities by providing technical
resources, BLOGs, and VLOGs on converting between
such fasteners.
The following information could be very helpful in
providing cost savings for engineers designing products,
or for sourcing agents, such as procurement specialists
or purchasing managers, when deciding on acceptable
alternatives to suggest to OEMs, or the interchangeability
of metric fastener standards.
When considering the interchangeability of standards,
agents should consider three important factors:
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
¤ Dimensional Differences
¤ Material Differences
¤ Nominal Size Differences
Dimensional differences are the most obvious factor.
Any new sourcing agent can figure that the sizes ought
to match, but differences in the dimensions and their
effects on interchangeability of standards is not always
so black and white. Material differences are often
overlooked when converting between standards, though
for some applications, this factor may be critically
important.
The nominal size is the trade size used to identify
a fastener. Changes in nominal sizes can affect the
nomenclature used when sourcing the fastener. Further,
changes in nominal size ranges means the actual
fastener sizes conforming to a standard has changed,
therefore procurement of that item may become more
difficult or not be possible in an alternative standard.
This often leads to higher-than-expected costs related to
the parts themselves.
Dimensions
The dimensions between DIN and ISO counterparts
can be exact, mostly exact, similar (but does not
affect typical application), similar (and affects typical
application). A fastener will be considered to have full
interchangeability if they can be switched out in any
application without any significant effect on output.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 110