For more than 40 years, Jonathan Engineered Solutions (JES) has been in the business of providing engineered solutions: a full range of professional engineering services and world-class products related to the custom design, manufacture, and global delivery of systems that permit easy accessibility to a load-bearing package mounted within an enclosure. JES integrated systems feature slide mechanisms, bracketry, trays, fastening systems, cable management systems, and other products that collectively enable access to devices within enclosures and promote easy lateral or vertical movement of equipment.
For a major customer in the computer-server industry, the challenge for JES (Irvine, CA) was to originate a system for a rack-mounted server application produced in the thousands annually. The solution from JES combines a highly engineered slide mechanism, bracketry, and PEM® hardware from PEM Fastening Systems (Danboro, PA).
According to applications engineer Ron Judge, who supervised this project at JES, the slide mechanism developed for the customer is equipped with steel brackets attached to the outer member of the slide, providing the means to mount the slide mechanism within an enclosure. In each bracket six installed PEM self-clinching custom steel pins perform the function of positioning and engaging with the holes in the vertical mounting rails of an enclosure.
"These PEM pins are tapered (one end larger than the other)," Judge notes, "so they will do the job whether holes are square or round, making this method ideal for the various hole configurations usually found in today''s enclosures."
JES then makes use of additional PEM hardware in this application by installing standard self-clinching steel nuts onto the backside of each .090 in.-thick bracket.
These PEM nuts (thread size #10-32) serve as attaching hardware to be mated with a custom PEM thumbscrew when the assembly is ready to be secured. (The thumbscrew is supplied by JES as part of its hardware kit for the customer.)
As this application suggests, JES design expertise and technical support are considerable, integrating engineering, testing, manufacture, and quality assurance to arrive at system solutions for countless industries, including electronics, telecommunications, medical, and industrial.
Slide mechanisms are a fundamental constituent of JES''s engineered solutions. The company''s ball-bearing slides in all their standard and customized variations are typically designed to support, allow movement, or provide a practical means to attach an object to a stationary structure (in this case, an enclosure). The end result of JES expertise is that a "package" can be installed in a box and, when required, the package can be extended or retracted with minimum effort.
"Accessibility is at the heart of all our systems," reports Tommy-Jo Galletti, market development manager at JES. "Whether for maintenance, repair, or replacement of devices, an end user must be able to get inside the box, and our slide systems and attaching hardware offer effective solutions."
Toolless attachment, fewer parts to inventory and handle, and secure installation are cited as among the benefits of the PEM hardware in this application.
"Neither the pins in the brackets nor the thumbscrews require tools," Galletti confirms. "Toolless attachment is the buzzword and for good reason, as it can save our customers time, money, and aggravation."
(In instances where extra tightening of thumbscrews may be desired, the PEM thumbscrew features a drive to enable tool use.)
Judge adds that the amount of hardware to be handled during the mounting process inside the enclosure is kept to a minimum (the pins and nuts are already installed in the bracketry), further making life easier for the JES customer and end user.
The installation procedure for self-clinching fasteners is handled by JES quickly and easily. The pins and nuts are simply inserted into pre-punched holes in the brackets, then a squeezing force is applied, utilizing a standard press, until the fastener''s clinching ring is embedded completely in the bracket. Installation is then complete.
According to Judge, the fact that self-clinching fasteners install permanently in an assembly holds significant appeal in the customer industries served by JES.
"Since there is no chance that PEM clinch hardware will fall out of our bracketry," he says, "there is no chance for the fasteners to damage or otherwise threaten our customer''s servers or other electronic components within a box. Once installed, the PEM hardware becomes an integral part of our solution, and it adds value along the way."