What Is The Rubber Ring On An Electrical Cord

rubber grommet in action

The rubber ring is called a grommet and it lines the edge of holes to help protect the cord.

When I started drilling glass bottles to make bottle lamps, I would use a hot glue gun to help hold the cord in place. It was messy and eventually it would come out anyway. This wasn’t what I really wanted my end product to look like and there had to be a better way. If I would have taken a moment to actually look at other glass lamps, these little rubber devices would have saved me a lot of hassle.

Rubber Rings

What size grommet or rubber ring do I need? – A frequently asked question that is really hard to answer because of the many variables. You have the thickness of the electrical cord plus the size of the hole that you drilled that come into play.

Grommet Shop

If you are looking for a specific size to get then it would probably be your best bet to purchase a rubber grommet pack that comes with multiple sized grommets. Having a nice snug fit will ensure that your cord is both protected and secured.

rubber ring in action
A rubber grommet in action.

We would like to thank Amy for sending us this question about Rubber Rings.

Remember, if you have a question you can leave us a comment on the post or shoot us an e-mail.

2 thoughts on “What Is The Rubber Ring On An Electrical Cord

  1. Thanks for posting about rubber grommets, Nick. These are very important whenever you are running an AC electrical cord through glass or metal as they prevent the insulation of the wire from being torn / exposed / shorted electrically.
    Every one of my bottle lamps has used a 3/8″ grommet which fits perfectly into a 3/8″ hole drilled through the bottle. The hole in the center of the grommet then perfectly accommodates the standard 1/4″ AC line cord that you buy in Home Depot or other electrical supplier. Gardner Bender sells these 3/8″ grommets in a pack of 6. They are also available from electronic parts stores as well.
    Cheers, Murray

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