Nylon Standoffs

Nylon 6/6 standoffs isolate. The mount carries no current, which is what you need when the board’s mounting hole sits near a trace, when the enclosure is metal and must not become part of the circuit, or when you simply do not want a ground path you did not design.

What nylon gives up

Nylon creeps: hold it under sustained clamp load and the thread slowly deforms, so a joint torqued hard today is looser next month. It strips at a fraction of the torque brass takes — tighten by hand, never with a driver on a clutch setting meant for metal. It absorbs moisture, which swells the part slightly and softens it. And it is good to roughly 85 °C continuous.

None of that matters for a light board in a benign enclosure, which is most of what these are used for. For anything heavy, hot, or repeatedly disassembled, use brass.

Male-female and female-female

Male-female has a moulded stud at one end and a tapped hole at the other. Female-female is tapped at both ends. Nylon studs are the weakest point on the part — start them square and stop as soon as they seat.

Sizing

Length is the body length across the hex; the stud is additional and stated separately. Every listing gives body length, across-flats, thread and stud length in millimetres and inches.