The purpose of the nylon-locking element is to hold the spring plunger’s body in a fixed position to ensure desired holding capacity.

 

Spring plungers with a thread size of ¼” and larger or M8 and larger have a nylon pellet thread locking element. Those smaller than ¼” or M8 thread have a nylon patch.

 

The nylon pellet form of locking element is embedded in the thread of the plunger body. When installed, the thread of the tapped hole cuts into the nylon pellet holding the plunger in place. With the pellet type-locking element, it is possible to uninstall a spring plunger and reuse it because of the durability of the nylon pellet. However, beware that when installing a spring plunger with a nylon pellet into softer metals or aluminum it could cause difficulty with the installation or even damage to the tapped hole. To prevent this problem you may need to use a larger tap drill when tapping, order a plunger without a locking element or visit or Technical Help Page to contact us regarding your application.

 

The nylon patch form of locking element is a coating that is applied has been applied to a small a section of the spring plunger threads. This type of locking element is actually a chemical reaction that bonds the thread of the spring plunger to the thread of the tapped hole upon being installed.

 

All of our threaded spring plungers can be ordered with or without a nylon thread locking element. Spring plungers without locking element have the same part number as those with a locking element, only with an “X” added to the end of the number. For example, 52805 is with locking element, while 52805X is without locking element.