DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

need some .375 course locknuts. due to extreme costs of fuel, and of
items in stores lately, I don't feel like paying the $6.32 EACH involved
costs would be to procure three. already have plenty .375 NC nuts
sitting around here doing nothing anyway.

approaches:

A. one hacksaw-cut nut parallel with bolt long axis, squeeze in vice.

B. same as above, torch red to heat, squeeze in vice, no hacksaw cut

C. squeeze in vice, no red heat AND no cut, 'just do it'

D. 'peen' the carriage bolt threads some, no locknut needed

E. already tried this: use a metric nut on a NC-threaded bolt, and hope
for a interference fit: unfortunately, the old VW engine mounting nuts I
have seem to be very nearly -precisely- the exact thread size as 3/8 NC
threaded carriage bolt thread :-(

F. heat bolt near-red, apply some 'braze' to the threads...

other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome

thanks,

toolie :-)

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

In article 8h27g.57427$IZ2.31951@dukeread07,
dave wrote:

other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome


Attach nut, cut off bolt so it sticks out 1/8 inch or so, peen the end
of the bolt.

Apply epoxy to bolt, install nut.

Salt the bolt, install nut, spray with salt water ;-)

Install bolt & nut, fire up welder, weld together.

Install bolt and nut, drill and pin.

Install bolt and nut leaving several inches of bolt sticking out. Bend
over bolt with sledgehammer.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

"Ecnerwal" other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Loc-tite.
Hack-saw nut to make a pair of jam nuts.
Drill thru tightened nut and bolt--insert cotter pin.
Drill endwise into interface between nut and bolt. Drive in roll pin or
taper pin.
Leave wrench on the tightened nut, and tie with wire.

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

In article 8h27g.57427$IZ2.31951@dukeread07, dave says...

other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome

Keep a bottle of red locktite on your shelf. Clean
bolt and nut, apply red locktite. Amortized over
the thousands of fasteners it can do, the cost is
a couple of cents per application.

Heat with torch to disassemble.

Jim


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DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

On Sat, 06 May 2006 10:20:49 -0400, dave
wrote:

need some .375 course locknuts. due to extreme costs of fuel, and of
items in stores lately, I don't feel like paying the $6.32 EACH involved
costs would be to procure three. already have plenty .375 NC nuts
sitting around here doing nothing anyway.

approaches:

A. one hacksaw-cut nut parallel with bolt long axis, squeeze in vice.

B. same as above, torch red to heat, squeeze in vice, no hacksaw cut

C. squeeze in vice, no red heat AND no cut, 'just do it'

D. 'peen' the carriage bolt threads some, no locknut needed

E. already tried this: use a metric nut on a NC-threaded bolt, and hope
for a interference fit: unfortunately, the old VW engine mounting nuts I
have seem to be very nearly -precisely- the exact thread size as 3/8 NC
threaded carriage bolt thread :-(

F. heat bolt near-red, apply some 'braze' to the threads...

other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome

thanks,

Loctite 242 (the blue stuff) if you might ever want to remove the nut.
Loctite 271 (the red stuff) if you can use heat when you ever need to
remove the nut.

toolie :-)

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

McMaster.com saves a lot of fuel costs.

They have very inexpensive chipping charges. I no longer buy my nuts
and bolts at local stores, except in emergency. It is much cheaper at McMaster.

i

On Sat, 06 May 2006 10:20:49 -0400, dave wrote:
need some .375 course locknuts. due to extreme costs of fuel, and of
items in stores lately, I don't feel like paying the $6.32 EACH involved
costs would be to procure three. already have plenty .375 NC nuts
sitting around here doing nothing anyway.

approaches:

A. one hacksaw-cut nut parallel with bolt long axis, squeeze in vice.

B. same as above, torch red to heat, squeeze in vice, no hacksaw cut

C. squeeze in vice, no red heat AND no cut, 'just do it'

D. 'peen' the carriage bolt threads some, no locknut needed

E. already tried this: use a metric nut on a NC-threaded bolt, and hope
for a interference fit: unfortunately, the old VW engine mounting nuts I
have seem to be very nearly -precisely- the exact thread size as 3/8 NC
threaded carriage bolt thread :-(

F. heat bolt near-red, apply some 'braze' to the threads...

other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome

thanks,

toolie :-)

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

On 6 May 2006 08:43:52 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article 8h27g.57427$IZ2.31951@dukeread07, dave says...

other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome

Keep a bottle of red locktite on your shelf. Clean
bolt and nut, apply red locktite. Amortized over
the thousands of fasteners it can do, the cost is
a couple of cents per application.

Heat with torch to disassemble.

Jim

To secure a brand new 5" Wilton machinist's vise at work, I had 1"
plate cut to vise base profile, holes drilled and tapped
appropriately, plate welded to work bench (1/2" plate top), and cap
screws cut to length then red loctited in place.

Pete Keillor

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

In article 8h27g.57427$IZ2.31951@dukeread07,
dave wrote:

[...]

other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome

thanks,

toolie :-)

Nut + backup nut. Screw against each other tightly.

Or put the nut on a bolt you don't need, set the nut on an anvil,
whack it with a hammer until it comes off the bolt tightly.

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

"dave" wrote in message
news:8h27g.57427$IZ2.31951@dukeread07...
need some .375 course locknuts. due to extreme costs of fuel, and of items
in stores lately, I don't feel like paying the $6.32 EACH involved costs
would be to procure three. already have plenty .375 NC nuts sitting around
here doing nothing anyway.

approaches:

A. one hacksaw-cut nut parallel with bolt long axis, squeeze in vice.

B. same as above, torch red to heat, squeeze in vice, no hacksaw cut

C. squeeze in vice, no red heat AND no cut, 'just do it'

D. 'peen' the carriage bolt threads some, no locknut needed

E. already tried this: use a metric nut on a NC-threaded bolt, and hope
for a interference fit: unfortunately, the old VW engine mounting nuts I
have seem to be very nearly -precisely- the exact thread size as 3/8 NC
threaded carriage bolt thread :-(

F. heat bolt near-red, apply some 'braze' to the threads...

other faster simpler cheaper approaches welcome

thanks,

toolie :-)
Stand nut upright on anvil. Place blunt center punch in center of top flat.
Slam punch with big hammer. They make this type commercially.
Don Young

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

I build race cars.

If I have something important enough to require the use of a locknut, I'm
not about to save a penny or two by cobbling up some sort of inferior
replacement for said locknut.

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

In article 01c671d6$9fe0fce0$5890c3d8@race, * says...


I build race cars.

Then you probably don't even *use* locknuts.

You probably secure vital fasteners with either castelated
nuts with a cotter pin, or use the appropriate thread
locking compound.

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

jim rozen wrote in article
...
In article 01c671d6$9fe0fce0$5890c3d8@race, * says...


I build race cars.

Then you probably don't even *use* locknuts.

You probably secure vital fasteners with either castelated
nuts with a cotter pin, or use the appropriate thread
locking compound.



Close!!!

I really cannot think of many cotter pins.....safety wire, but very few
cotter pins.

I don't cotter pin steering components. I Loctite them......makes it
quicker to change a bent tie rod under a yellow flag period.......

If I build a car and choose to NOT use Loctite in the steering components,
I use a short cowling pin - looks a bit like a safety pin. This, too, is
quicker to remove than a cotter pin under yellow flag repair conditions.

There are a number of nylock nuts used on suspension arms that I want to
"float" without loosening up.

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

Loctite is the best. But, if you have room, tighten assembly, then cut
bolt off 1/8 - 1/4" beyond nut, then rather than peening the whole
thing over, just go to work with a center punch on the center of the
bolt. This will expand it enough to hold the nut on. Welding is the
second best method, a good spot weld and it isn't going anywhere, at
least not this side of reality. Nylock nuts are a great thing, but
highly over rated, one use and they're junk.

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

On 7 May 2006 15:15:19 -0700, wrote:

Loctite is the best. But, if you have room, tighten assembly, then cut
bolt off 1/8 - 1/4" beyond nut, then rather than peening the whole
thing over, just go to work with a center punch on the center of the
bolt. This will expand it enough to hold the nut on. Welding is the
second best method, a good spot weld and it isn't going anywhere, at
least not this side of reality. Nylock nuts are a great thing, but
highly over rated, one use and they're junk.

you must torture your nylocks. mine on the aircraft get reused until
they fail to resist.

one suggestion for locking nuts which works well in really arduous
heavy machinery (mining) applications is the Nordlock. They work well
and are pretty innocuous.
oddly they never see the light of day in aviation.

the nordlock is two washers. the surface which mates up with the other
washer has a set of stepped inclines. the other face has marks to lock
into the surface being tightened. when they are tightened the inner
faces have less resistance than the outer faces and cause the nut to
elongate the bolt slightly, once they have ridden over the top of the
incline the whole thing comes loose.
I've seen them in sizes down to 4mm.

Stealth Pilot

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

I worked in a custom 4 wheel drive shop for awhile, and we didn't trust
them, Loctited everything. I used some Nylocks on my personal truck and
ended up double nutting everything I could. When it wasn't in the mud
or water, it was bombing down the roads. I was even pulling the threads
out of the extra tall nuts on the u-bolts that hold the axles to the
springs, so all of those were double nutted with the extra tall nuts as
well. Plus the u-bolts were one size larger than it was manufactured
with. If you wanted to find out if something would break, all you had
to do was bolt it on that truck, sometimes parts would break just
getting near it. So yeah either it's the abusive evironment or just me.

Also, I'm not really clear on how this works, but elongation of the
bolt or stud is how things remain tight. From my understanding that's
why you torque a fastener, to apply the proper amount of preload.

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

In article . com,
wrote:

[snip]

Also, I'm not really clear on how this works, but elongation of the
bolt or stud is how things remain tight. From my understanding that's
why you torque a fastener, to apply the proper amount of preload.

That's exactly right. The point of the preload is to ensure that the
force on the fastener *never* reverses, so the anti-turning friction
never relents.

A good example is lug nuts on a wheel rim - the lug nuts are cones that
wedge into a hemispherical spring (stamped into the rim). This holds,
despite the total lack of lockwashers et al.

Joe Gwinn

DIY locknuts, zero cost, making them: alternate ideas, anyone?
 

In article . com,
says...

Also, I'm not really clear on how this works, but elongation of the
bolt or stud is how things remain tight. From my understanding that's
why you torque a fastener, to apply the proper amount of preload.

Exactly right. Read Carroll Smith's book "Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners,
and Plumbing" for an excellent discussion of locking methods and
fasteners in general. Highly recommend.

Jim


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