Old fart going nuts over nuts and bolts

T

TQA222

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At the moment I am looking at a purchase list which includes

British Association [BA]nuts bolts washers mostly cap head plus taps, dies and allen keys

Metric nuts bolts washers mostly cap head plus taps, dies and allen keys

Imperial UNF? nuts bolts washers mostly cap head plus taps, dies and allen keys

It seems crazy to buy all three. Should I concentrate on one if so which? Bear in mind that I live on a sailboat in the Eastern Caribbean. While I can get stuff from anywjere in the world getting it from the USA is usually cheaper and almost always faster.

Would 0-80 to 5-40 Thread plus 3/16th up UNF and UNC which I already have.do the job? Or am I missing something?
 
It seems that buying the sizes that you would use most would make the most sense. Really depends on what you are building. Given that you are on a sailboat, it seems that SS fasteners would be a priority. I don't think that I have ever seen a 0-80 screw, let alone used one.

I have thousands of nuts & bolts in all sizes and types, but many times I have to run to the hardware store when working on a project because I don't have the ones I need. If your boat is less than about 30 meters, and you tried to stow everything you possibly could use, your boat would sink. :grin:
 
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Metric fasteners are available in the US. I have never been outside US so I don't know the availability of imperial fasteners in other countries. Don't know anything about BA Something to think about.
Chuck
 
Why not let the equipment in your inventory dictate what you concentrate on? For my mill, that's 5/8 - 11. For my dividing heads, that's 10 - 32. So, whatever I add or do that involves those 2 devises will utilize those bolt sizes. Likewise, my lathe likes M8 - 1.25, so I use the same on the whatever I adapt to it. Keep it simple & keep it afloat.
 
Why are you buying????

If list is a general stock list for emergency or hobby then look at what will be needed for both.

If you are planning on building specific projects then buy suggested fasteners for those in size and type.

Worked with a navy comm tech yeasts back and he discussed how things were repaired instead of replaced simply due to being middle of Ocean limits availability of materials.

So survey your craft for general sizes of hardware required to make repairs and buy those.

Companies like fastenal and Lawson have maintenance kits that have assortment of hardware for just this case as well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
TQA222 said:
At the moment I am looking at a purchase list which includes

<snip>

It seems crazy to buy all three. Should I concentrate on one if so which?
Click to expand...

If you are making stuff for yourself, just pick a couple and let everything else go. You can pick metric, UNF, or UNC. Pick what is most easily available

I make telescopes (from 13" through 30"Newtonians) and I have settled on 4-40 and 1/4-20. About 2/3rds of the fasteners I use are 4-40 and the structural stuff is all 1/4-20. I include 2 allen wrenches and 1 nut driver on the telescopes. 1/4-20 is fine for the maximal structural loads there things encounter, and 4-40 is fine for all the parts that need to be attached. For fasteners into wood I use 1/4-20 brass threaded inserts with epoxy. But still one 2 sizes are necessary.

I could save 2-3 oz of weight by using 6 or more sizes, but the scopes are 20-200 pounds and it seem frivolous to save that little and cause so much consternation.

The radio controlled cars I used to race used 4-40 and 2.5mm for the 50-60 threaded fasteners on the cars, with one 1/4-20 nylon nut used to apply the right amount of tension to the differential (controlling the freewheeling slip.)
 
OK I am going to follow the KISS advice and stick to US stuff and miss out on the tiny stuff buying

1-64 set of 3 taps
2-56 set of 3 taps
3-48 set of 3 taps

I will buy cap head set screws in different lengths. plus washers and nuts
 
JimDawson said:
you tried to stow everything you possibly could use, your boat would sink.
Click to expand...
As all those above have said- you gotta decide what you will be working on, and work your supply around that. Since I am not on a sailboat, I keep ALOT of stuff on hand. Lucky me! It would surely sink a boat,if we loaded it all on to one!
 
While I do have a set (eBay) of small sizes of metric, most of my model work is on older models with Imperial (American) threads. Looking at your list, with 2-56 in the middle, I would have to say that a goodly portion of what you are working on/with would determine what you need. On my models, 2-56 is toward the large end of the spectrum. A lot of my stuff has 00 or 000 fasteners. As in 00-90 or 000-120... ... There is a 0000-160 available, but I don't use that size so don't have one. I do have the larger sizes, up to 1-1/2", to fit my machines. But the large sizes don't get used very often.

At issue here is the American versus Metric versus British threads. For older equipment, you may wish to keep some British sized taps and dies. But for more recent equipment, you would want to keep American or Metric. The British standard has 55 degree threads, the others 60 degree. The bottom line is to look at what you will be working with/on and base any call on that. I would tend toward Metric, but that final call would be your's.

In reality, I'm just babbling away to get my name in here. I have had small boats in the past. But all riverine craft, nothing off shore. Wishful thinking in my old age, I guess. Again, I would say whatever your boat is, keep those.
 
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