Unique Original Articles » How Manufacturers Use Tamperproof Line Fasteners

There are many different reasons that designers and manufacturers need to ensure security. Using temper-resistant and tamper-evident designs and products provides that necessary level of security in electronics, data storage devices and items that may present a danger to the handler. Tamperproof line fasteners are typically used as part of a security system put in place for protection.

What Are Tamper Resistant Screws?

These fasteners are designed with a specific profile or head that cannot be loosened with common tools. They often have the same specifications as common screws – including the length and strength necessary for the application. But instead of offering a flat-head, Phillips or square-head (all of these can be loosened with household tools or other common items), these particular line fasteners come with Torx heads or another unique style, size and shape of recess.

Products with tamperproof screws may include the tool used to loosen and tighten the fasteners. This is not the case, however, with electronics and computers that employ tamper-evident or tamper-resistant fasteners to deter consumers from opening the casing and exposing the interior of the device. In those cases the manufacturer wants to limit the ability to unfasten the screws. Tamper-evident fasteners let the service technicians know that the device has been opened and can, in certain circumstances, void any warranty that applies.

Examples of Products Commonly Employing Tamperproof Fasteners

Personal computers use tamperproof line fasteners for two vastly different reasons. On the one hand, manufacturers need to limit their liability and use tamper-evident screws to present proof when a system has been opened and tampered with. But this style of fastener is also used to provide the computer user with a higher level of security. The inside of the system is safer from extraction, destruction and any other forms of alteration when tamperproof fasteners are used.

Appliances that present a risk of electrical shock and other dangers should they be opened up are often fitted with tamperproof fasteners. This prevents most incidents of the average user opening the unit and causing harm. Manufacturers use this design to limit liability and present a safer atmosphere for consumers.

Many electronics are fitted with tamper-resistant screws to prevent modification. This can reduce the number of ineligible warranty claims, but since service technicians cannot tell whether the item has been tampered with until it is actually in the service bay, in actual fact it may not reduce the issue as much as the manufacturer had hoped.

How Manufacturers Have Access to These Fasteners

Most often a line of tamperproof fasteners is custom made for the product or manufacturer. In certain circumstances the same style of screw head may be used on multiple products offered by one manufacturer – all of products offered by Sony, for example, may have the same line of tamperproof screws. But in any case, each screw needs to be produced to suit the customized specifications.

Tamperproof line fasteners deliver different benefits that apply to both manufacturers and the end users. Creating a safer and more secure product that will give evidence when tampering has occurred, this style of fastener is custom made. They are readily used for electronics, appliances and computer devices today and will continue to be long into the foreseeable future.

AJ Best writes about alternative energy sources and other eco-friendly issues. She writes for Melfast commercial fasteners, nuts and bolts, and plastic fasteners http://www.melfast.com
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