On 22/10/2020 08:27:31, michael adams wrote:
"soup" wrote in message
...
But then much like the difference between a ship and a
boat, I don't think it has ever been detailed when a machine screw
becomes a bolt.

A bolt is threaded into a nut to tighten it,

A screw is threaded into a female thread, or as in the case of woodscrews
creates it own female thread.

Because a bolt can be used to join components through an unthreaded hole
there's no necessity for the thread to go all the way to the end. However
this is purely incidental.

The convention is that a bolt is not wholly threaded along it's length.
If it is, them it would normally be called a machine screw.

It's not normally considered 'coincidental'?

Standard pattern woodscrews are plain at the end but are still screws.

Whereas machine screws can be used with nuts through unthreaded holes,
in which case they're functioning as bolts.

I have always believed that bolts were designed to assist in location,
apart from being cheaper to make than machine screws.

Unfortunately the wikipedia entry for Machine Screws is ASME / US based.