Shoulder bolts are also commonly referred to as shoulder screws or stripper bolts. These bolts are not ones that will be commonly found in your local hardware store. This is because they aren't bolts that you will find yourself needing to use around your house or to work on your car or other common projects. Shoulder bolts are used a lot, but their use is predominantly in industries like the aerospace industry or even in consumer products. If you aren't familiar with shoulder bolts, keep reading here because the information will better familiarize you with them.
There are three main parts to shoulder bolts
The design of shoulder bolts consists of three main parts. There is the head of the bolt, the shoulder of the bolt, and the thread. The head of the bolt tends to look smooth and round on the outside. The shoulder of the bolt is normally thick and smooth. Then, the thread portion of the bolt is smaller in diameter than the shoulder portion.
The shoulder extends beyond where the thread goes
When the shoulder bolt has been threaded into a surface, the shoulder portion of the bolt prevents the remainder of the bolt from going all the way into the surface. This means that the shoulder acts as a type of stopper, preventing the bolt from moving any further. The shoulder of the bolt also tends to be longer than the portion of the bolt that has the thread on it.
The shoulder portion of the bolts give them a design that helps them to act as a shaft or as a dowel. This allows for things that rotate to continue to rotate around the shoulder portion of the bolt. Also, things that would need to glide around this area can continue to glide around the shoulder and the smooth design, so they have won't put a lot of wear on the items that are working around the shoulder of the bolt. Having the ability to work with things like pulleys, sprockets, and gears is one of the things that makes the design of the shoulder bolts important for certain industries.
Shoulder bolts can be made from different materials
There are different materials that shoulder bolts can be made from, like steel, brass, and even plastic. This is something that is important when it comes to the design of the bolts, because the right material bolt needs to be available for different purposes.