If you’re looking for the automotive or mechanical bushing — the anti-friction sleeve used in suspension components, hinges, or rotating shafts — this isn’t that. A “bond bushing” (more precisely, a bonding bushing) is an electrical term, used in conduit and raceway installations, and it has nothing mechanically in common with the sleeve bushings covered elsewhere on this site. For that topic, see What Is a Bushing?
What a Bonding Bushing Actually Is
In electrical work, a bonding bushing is a fitting installed where a metal conduit or raceway enters an electrical enclosure — typically through a concentric, eccentric, or oversized knockout. Its job is to maintain a continuous, low-impedance electrical path to ground across that connection point, because a standard locknut alone doesn’t reliably do that through certain knockout types.
When One Is Typically Required
This is governed by the National Electrical Code (NEC) and varies by system voltage and knockout configuration — in general terms, bonding bushings become a requirement more often on higher-voltage systems (commonly cited around 250V to ground and above, such as 480V systems) and in service-entrance or grounding-electrode-conductor installations, while lower-voltage circuits through standard knockouts often don’t require one. Because NEC requirements are specific, code-cited, and carry real safety consequences if applied incorrectly, treat any exact threshold or article citation as something to verify against the current NEC and your local jurisdiction’s amendments — not something to take from a general web article, including this one.
Why This Page Exists
SYZ Machine’s Bushings resource hub covers mechanical bushings — suspension components, industrial sliding bearings, and related parts. “Bond bushing” shows up in search data pointing to suspension-bushing content, but it’s a genuinely different product category (electrical grounding hardware) that happens to share a name. We’d rather tell you that plainly than stretch a mechanical explanation to fit a term it doesn’t apply to.
If you landed here looking for automotive suspension bushings instead, start with What Is a Bushing? or Types of Automotive Bushings by Mounting Location.
Related reading: What Is a Bushing? Definition, Materials, and How It Works · What Is a Bushing in Plumbing?
