Key features and design
- Material Variability: Typically made from various grades of nylon or other plastics like polyethylene, polypropylene, and acetal copolymer These can include impact-modified and heat and UV-stabilised materials to cope with customer-specific requirements.
- Head and Fin Styles: They come in various head, nose, and fin styles, making them extremely versatile. The design often involves a balance between insertion and extraction force.
- Size and Force Requirements: The fasteners are available in multiple lengths and diameters. The force required to remove them depends on several factors, including temperature, hole diameter, panel thickness, fin design, and the materials of the panels and fastener.
- Colour Options: Available in many colours, including black, white, beige, green or a specific RAL or Pantone colour, allowing them to blend seamlessly into the vehicle’s design.
Applications in the Automotive Industry:
- Panel Mounting: Used extensively for attaching interior door panels, trim pieces, head linings and other components.
- Specialised Variations: There are variations like double-ended Christmas tree fasteners for specific applications, including connecting two panels from the centre or securing multiple panels.
INSTALLATION AND REMOVAL:
- Ease of Use: Christmas tree fasteners are known for their ease of installation. They can typically be inserted by hand and require no special tools.
- Drilling Requirements: These fasteners must be inserted into an existing hole. If replacing an old clip, it needs to be removed before the new one is inserted.
- Size and Style Selection: It's crucial to choose the correct size and style of the clip based on the application. This includes considering the thickness of the panels to be secured, the snugness of fit in the intended hole and the fin style, which affects performance and ease of removal.
CONCLUSION
Automotive Christmas tree fasteners are indispensable in the automotive industry due to their versatility, durability, and ease of use. They can replace nuts, bolts and screws in some applications where aesthetics is important. Their design allows for the secure fastening of panels and components while being easy to install which means no tools are required reducing labour costs, this makes them a favoured choice in vehicle assembly and repair.
Read our comprehensive guide to Fir Tree Clips
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