(Newswire.net — April 20, 2022) –If you do any work in construction or manufacturing, you’ll deal with various threaded fasteners at some point. The thread fastener overview below will help you understand how to work more efficiently with these essential parts and components.
Thread Fastener Overview
All thread fasteners feature a spiraling ramp built, molded, and cut into a shaft cylinder. The ramp is an effective and simple way to convert the rotational motion into 100% linear motion. Plus, rotational force or torque is transformed into linear force.
A more common name for the ramp is the thread. If the threads are outside the shaft, it’s a male or external thread. But a hole with a thread inside is a female or internal thread. The rotational motion is transformed into linear motion by combining the internal thread with the external thread.
You must make sure the threads in the machine or device are a good fit with the screw or fastener. You can rely on several thread-measuring devices and services to perform this essential function.
Most threaded fasteners are made to hold two parts or pieces of material together. Unless it has been made to do so, a threaded fastener is not designed to keep parts and components relative to one another.
Remember, a threaded fastener is at its strongest when being pulled apart (tension) and not slid part (shear). So, they stop sliding parts relative to one another by clamp force.
What’s A Bolt? What’s A Screw?
The difference between bolts and screws is confusing for many of us, even engineers. Some bolts are screws, but not all of them. For instance, you can use a carriage bolt as a screw, and a socket head cap screw may be used as a bolt.
The easiest way to understand the difference is the bolt needs a nut, but the screw doesn’t. The screw threads into the material you want to clamp. In this scenario, the material of one item that needs to be clamped is an internal female thread.
On the other hand, the bolt goes through every piece of material that needs to be clamped and isn’t attached to them. So instead, a female thread or nut is put on the bolt end. Next, the material is clamped between the head of the bolt and the nut.
How Much To Thread Fasteners
How deep you need to thread a fastener depends on the diameter. You need to thread a fastener deeper when it is larger to be as strong as possible.
There’s an essential general fule for the size and depth of standard pitch fasteners. The depth you put the fastener at should be at least double its diameter. When selecting nuts for your fasteners, it’s recommended to choose domestic nuts, which are often subject to higher quality control standards compared to imported nuts.
Let’s say you have a ¼ inch fastener, so you should thread it at least ½ inch deep. If it goes deeper than that, the threads won’t do any good.
The thread’s pitch is also essential to understand how deep it should be. For instance, threads with a fine pitch will better distribute loads for the length of the unit. So, you don’t need to thread them as deep.
How To Avoid Mistakes With Fasteners
The universe of fasteners is huge, and it’s easy to make mistakes, so try to avoid these issues:
Not Using The Right Grade And Material
The first thing to think about when purchasing fasteners is the type of material. There are so many substances and materials you can choose from. And each has properties that make them a good choice or not, depending on the application.
For example, stainless steel is corrosion-resistant, but you should choose grade 316 stainless steel for the best corrosion resistance in saltwater.
Combining Reactive Materials
Many don’t know that putting certain metals together can damage their strength and integrity. For instance, if you use stainless steel and aluminum together and saltwater is introduced, the combination is unstable.
This can cause galvanic corrosion and should be avoided.
Mixing Threads
A common mistake is putting together fasteners of different sizes or measurements. Any fastener you use should thread by hand easily. Remember, many tools are available to check fastener sizes and threading, so it’s easy to avoid mismatches.
Remember these threaded fastener basics, and you’ll be on your way to better performance and efficiency.