In almost all construction jobs at some point or other you are going to encounter a surface which is not quite as level as you would ideally like it to be. For one reason or another, it’s often simply not possible, however hard we try, to find a level surface without a little help!
As an example, we may be battening a wall to take plasterboard sheets and if there is any variation in the battens the wall could look uneven and therefore not as good as we or our clients, for those working in a trade, would like. However, there is a solution and we came across a fantastic range of plastic shims and packers at Orbital Fasteners.
Horseshoe Packers
Perhaps the most useful type of plastic packing shim is the horseshoe packer. A horseshoe packer enables one handed installation, particularly when working on a vertical surface to install for example wall battens. The horseshoe packers simply slides over the screw or bolt and hangs in place while we secure our fastening.
To enable fast selection of the packers they are colour coded so we can choose the most suitable packer quickly and easily. A 1mm packer is coloured yellow, 2mm is green and 3mm is blue and so on up to 6mm packer which is black. It is worth getting to know the various colours if you use packers on a regular basis.
Available In Assorted Packs
Additionally they are also available in 45mm and 100mm lengths. Assorted packs of 200 are available so that it is not necessary to order more than you might expect to need to start with.
A Range Of Benefits Of Plastic & Metal Packers
Plastic packers have many benefits including being rot resistant but they are not always ideal if we are dealing with something heavy which requires something a little stronger. This is where we need a metal packer and Orbital Fasteners also supply metal shims in a range of thicknesses from 1mm to 10mm and in lengths of 50mm, 75mm and 100mm. To give a long life the metal shims are hot dip galvanised after manufacture so that there is no untreated edge therefore making them suitable for interior and exterior use in situations such as structural installation, architectural glazing or lift engineers to name a few.
At the end of the day, it’s easy to forget the simple solutions like plastic and metal packers, however they come in handy in a whole host of situations and, above anything else, they can be a HUGE time saver. No longer do you need to worry and waste hours trying to get a surface level yourself, simply use packers to level things out and give you the surface you need to complete the job – easy, simple and straightforward and something that, once you’ve got a pack in your toolbox, you’ll wonder how you’ve ever managed without in the past!