What Is a Thin Washer?
A thin washer is a type of screw. Like a pan head screw, the head of the screw has a flange, and when it is driven into a base material such as steel plate or wood, it can hold the base material securely and firmly without a washer.
Compared to truss screws and pan head screws, the screw head is flatter, which is a major feature of this type of screw.
They are used in building siding work, for example, when installing insulation panels.
Uses of Thin Washers
Thin washers are mainly used to fasten thin plate materials to base materials, such as machine parts covers and building exterior walls.
Many thin washers have a drilled tip on the threaded part or a tapping screw with coarse threads and can be driven into the base material using an electric screwdriver, even if the base material does not have a female thread or a tap.
In the case of tapping screws, a pre-drilled hole is made using an electric drill, etc. before driving the screw into the base metal, but drilling screws can be driven directly into the base metal without pre-drilling.
Principle of Thin Washers
Thin washers have a flatter screw head than truss screws or pan washer screws. They are used when the screw head needs to be as flat as possible, such as when installing insulated sandwich panels on metal siding or when driving aluminum sashes into C-shaped steel.
In terms of applications where the head of the screw is to be finished flat, pan-head screws have the same characteristics. However, in the case of thin washer screws, the screw head has a flange that holds the base metal more strongly than a pan head screw, providing a stronger holding force.
This is a property common to screws that are driven directly into the base metal, such as drilling screws and tapping screws, but they are not suitable for fixing steel plates and other materials that have a certain degree of weight, so thin washer screws are best used only for fixing thin plate-like objects.
When used outdoors, gaps may occur between the screws and base metal, causing leaks, so caulking may be applied as a preventive measure.