When should 0.375 outer diameter spacers be used instead of 0.5 spacers? Or vice versa? Which are stronger, and which are better for box bolts?
Thanks.
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Because they are made of the same material, I don’t think there are many differences.
For box bolts, the 0.5" ones can be hard to squeeze in, but I think they both work just about the same. If either is stronger for box bolts, I would guess its the 0.5" ones, but I haven’t tested it, and I think any difference would be very small.
We have used spacers as stops for joints in the past, and in that case, you can use the different sizes to change where the joint stops.
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1/2”. are definitely stronger because they have a wider contact area which distributes the load better. this also puts the edge of the spacer closer to the outermost part of the flange, which reduces the torque something would have trying to bend the flange in
it’s not a huge difference though and i personally prefer 0.375” cuz they fit in more spaces and they look cleaner. the white gets dirty too quickly and can be annoying to clean
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I use 0.375" for pretty much everything, I’ve never encountered an instance where the small increase in strength of 0.5" was necessary.
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If you’re putting spacers on holes right next to the flange, 0.5 spacers wont fit and you’ll have to use 0.35 instead
Depends. I would suggest getting the 0.375 nylon spacers (they are perceived as white on Robosource) as compared to the trashy crumbly plastic spacers that come from most VEX kits. But as for the 0.375 ones, they would be a better solution for flywheels and axles, as they are only used to keep space and handle light compressions. As for 0.5 spacers they are better when you are building a mechanism with spacing and screws through them, or used as reinforcing C-Channels to be more robust, or as “box bolts” and handle torsion.
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So judging from the fact that everyone to post has said different things for each spacer, I think it’s probably safe to say that it doesn’t really matter.
depends on how you define matter. If you end up using a lot of spacers, the weight reduction on the 0.375 compared to the 0.5 can be non-negligible. And there might be very specific cases where the slight extra strength of 0.5 spacers might be desired. It’s a really easy thing to optimize, so why not pick the slightly better spacer for the application. In the big picture the difference might not be very noticeable by itself, but its all the little optimizations that can turn a good robot into a great robot.
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ngl i would pick the sleek 0.375” gray spacers over the 0.01% increase in strength given by the ugly white ones any day
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for almost every application I would agree. I’ve never encountered an instance where the strength of a 0.5" spacer would make a difference over the 0.375, but there could be some uses for them if large diameter is desired for whatever reason, or possibly in a box bolt that somehow needs to be tightened to the point where a 0.5" spacer won’t compress but a 0.375" will.
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I guess, but at that point just use standoffs or c chan couplers. all my homies hate white spacers 
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