STAINLESS STEEL PRECISION SHIM WASHERS

Precision Shim Washers — PTS's own range of precision shim washers is manufactured in A4 stainless only and held to tight tolerances for applications where a standard flat washer isn't precise enough to do the job. Rather than spreading clamping load like a general-purpose washer, a shim washer is used as a spacing or packing component, fitted singly or stacked to fill a gap or fine-tune an axial dimension with a level of accuracy a standard washer's normal tolerance band can't guarantee. That precision role is why the range turns up across medical, aerospace, automotive, and advanced manufacturing work — sectors where a fraction of a millimetre of unwanted play or misalignment can affect how an assembly performs, and where the consistent material properties and corrosion resistance of A4 stainless matter for hygiene, chemical exposure, or long-term dimensional stability. Standardising the range on A4 rather than offering an A2 or plain steel alternative lets PTS guarantee the same tight tolerance and corrosion performance across every thickness in the range; where a project only needs loose spacing and isn't concerned with corrosion or precision beyond a standard washer's normal tolerance, a standard flat washer or a generic shim washer is the simpler and cheaper option, and the precision range is worth specifying specifically where that tighter tolerance is the reason for buying a shim in the first place. Choosing the right washer from the range comes down to selecting the closest available thickness to the gap being filled, or combining more than one from the closely graduated thickness range to build up an exact dimension — stacking should be kept to the minimum number of washers that achieves the required thickness, since fewer, thicker shims generally give a more stable result than a tall stack of thin ones in a load-bearing gap.

FAQs
How does a Precision Shim Washer differ from a standard DIN 988 shim washer?
A generic shim washer is typically held to a wider, standard tolerance band, while PTS's Precision Shim Washer range is a dedicated A4-only line held to tighter tolerances for applications where the standard product's tolerance isn't accurate enough — check both listings to confirm which tolerance and material suits a specific job.

Are Precision Shim Washers suitable for load-bearing gaps, or spacing only?
They're primarily a precision spacing or packing component; where a stacked shim assembly is also expected to bear significant clamping load, the stability and number of washers stacked should be assessed for that specific application rather than assumed suitable purely because they fill the gap.