Meccom Rubber Grommet
As reinforcement or crafting
Grommets are used to reinforce holes in leather, cloth, shoes, canvas and other fabrics. They can be made of metal, rubber, or plastic, and are easily used in common projects, requiring only the grommet itself and a means of setting it with a punch, a metal rod with a convex tip. A simple punch, often sold with the grommets, can be struck with a hammer to set the grommet. It can also be set with an electronic, pneumatic, or gas-powered machine. There are also dedicated grommet presses with punch and anvil, as shown in the picture, ranging from inexpensive to better-quality tools, which are somewhat faster to use. They are used to strengthen holes; in footwear for boot and shoe laces, in laced clothing such as corsets, and in curtains and other household items that require hanging from hooks, as when they are used in conjunction with tensioner rods for shower curtains. The grommet prevents the cord from tearing through the hole, thereby providing structural integrity. Small grommets are also called eyelets, especially when used in clothing or crafting. Eyelets may be used purely decoratively for crafting. When used in sailing and various other applications they are called cringles. Sometimes field workers may refer to them as grunyons.
Used in electrical equipment
For cable protection
If metal or another hard material has a hole made in it, the hole will probably have sharp edges. Electrical wires, cord, rope, lacings, or other soft vulnerable material passing through the hole can become abraded or cut, or electrical insulation may break due to repeated flexing at the exit point. Rubber, plastic or plastic coated metal grommets are used to avoid this. The grommet could also protect the wiring/cabling from contamination from dirt, air, water, etc. The smooth and sometimes soft inner surface of the grommet shields the wire from damage.
Grommets are generally used whenever wires pass through punched/drilled sheet metal or plastic casings for this reason. Molded and continuous strip grommets, also known as edge grommets, are manufactured in a wide variety of sizes and lengths expressly for this purpose; they are usually a single piece which can be inserted by hand. Two-piece hard plastic devices are available which also grip the wire that passes through. These are called strain relief bushings and are often used to insulate, anchor, and protect power cords where they enter panels. Preventing a tug or twist on the wire from stressing the electrical connections inside the connected equipment. Sleeved grommets have a flexible extension (sleeve), usually tapered or moulded to flex increasingly towards the free end in order to reduce fracturing of electrical insulation.
To minimize vibration
Grommets made of rubber or other elastic material are also used to minimize the transmission of vibration. They were widely used for mounting shock-sensitive computer disk drives, particularly in equipment subject to vibration or jarring, but are not usually used with more robust modern drives. The screws that hold the drive in place pass through grommets that decouple it acoustically from the chassis. Grommets are used in a similar way to acoustically isolate electronic circuit components that are susceptible to microphonism caused by mechanical vibration or jarring.
