M4 Spacer - 19mm Long Nylon (qty x10)

This is a black nylon spacer, 19 mm long and sized for M4 hardware, sold ten to a bag as Blue Alpine part F00116-00 for $2.50. It holds two parts a set distance apart and, because it’s nylon, it does that without making an electrical path between them.

What a nylon spacer does

A spacer is a sleeve. A screw passes through it, and the sleeve sets the gap between whatever is clamped at each end. Length is the whole point. Here that’s 19 mm, end face to end face.

Nylon is an electrical insulator. It doesn’t conduct, so it won’t create a path between a circuit board and the metal the board is mounted to. It doesn’t rust, it weighs next to nothing, and it won’t scratch paint the way a metal sleeve can. The trade-off is strength. Nylon is much softer than steel or brass, and it will crush or slowly creep if it’s clamped too hard.

Heat is the other limit. Nylon softens at temperatures metal doesn’t notice, so a nylon spacer is a poor choice right next to something that runs hot. If the part you’re replacing was metal, stay with metal.

Spacer or standoff?

Catalogs aren’t always consistent, but the usual distinction goes like this. A standoff is threaded, inside, outside or both. A spacer is a plain sleeve a screw goes through. Our M2.5 brass standoffs, for example, are threaded female at both ends. This part is listed as a spacer, but the listing doesn’t give the bore diameter or say whether it’s threaded. If your old one was threaded, check with us before ordering.

The two materials also behave differently with electricity. Brass conducts, so a brass standoff can carry a ground connection from a board to a chassis. A nylon spacer breaks that connection. Replace like with like. If the original was nylon, there was probably a reason.

Working out the screw length

With a through-spacer, the screw has to cover the whole stack: the part under the head, the spacer, the part at the far end, and then enough thread to catch a nut or a tapped hole. Add it up before you order screws.

Here’s an example with made-up numbers. A 1.5 mm bracket, the 19 mm nylon spacer and a 1.5 mm panel come to 22 mm. An M4 hex nut is about 3.2 mm thick, and you want a thread or two showing past it, so you’d be looking at roughly 26 to 30 mm. Our M4 x 50 mm pan head screws leave 31 mm past a 19 mm spacer, so they suit a deep stack rather than a short one.

Measuring the one you’re replacing

• Length: calipers across the two flat ends. This nylon spacer is 19 mm.
• Bore: sized for M4 hardware.
• Material: nylon looks dull and slightly waxy and weighs far less than metal. A magnet ignores it, which at least rules out plain steel.
• Color: these are black.

Fitting a nylon spacer

Tighten to snug and stop. The spacer’s end faces carry the clamping load, and overtightening squashes them or makes the sleeve bulge. Nylon also relaxes a little under constant clamping, so a joint that felt tight on day one can be slightly looser later. It’s worth a check the next time you have that panel off.

It absorbs a small amount of moisture from the air, too, and can change size very slightly as it does. That doesn’t matter much for a sleeve like this. The nylon article on Wikipedia covers the material if you want more.

Not sure which spacer you have? A photo of the old one next to a ruler, plus the part number from your manual, is enough for us to go on. Send it through the contact page or call +1 (443) 514-5708. Other spacers and screws are in fasteners and tools.