Odd fasteners

[RetroMower 349]

Not a big deal but in my quest to restore.... a tractor .... I ran across a bunch of these 5/16 stubby bolts with a slot machined in the side and for the life of me I cant think of a good reason for it.  they arent homemade so they arent what I'd call a poor mans thread chaser. I made something like this when I was a teenager and didn't have a lot of tools so I made a ditch or two in a long bolt with a dremel or angle grinder to clear the crud and rust out of a blind hole. The 2nd photo is one of the most ornate bolts I've ever seen and is telling me someone in the past put this on my JD which is obviously out of place. 

Edited January 10, 2022 by RetroMower

[WHX?? 49,491]

Self tapping ... mostly used in manufacturing, assembly &  production sort of thing.  

Eliminates the tapping station but generally only in light fabrication & assembly. 

[stevasaurus 22,914]

Not positive, but I think I have seen those in places where you are attaching sheet metal to something, (like an engine).  They enable you to start the bolt and pull the sheet metal into place.

 

[pacer 3,174]

 

They're fairly common, I've ran across them off and on thru the years, and never really stopped and thought "why this type?" But I think that @stevasaurus is pretty close to nailing it.

 

In fact --- Hmmm, doesnt some of the side panels on the horses have them? Seems like the side covers on my D's had/have them

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,137]

https://www.valuefastener.com/thread-cutting-screws/type-thread-cutting-screws-c-100_1075_1174.html

 

Most graded bolt heads have the maker's ID on them. That was so the source could be traced back to them.

https://www.electronicfasteners.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/northamericanmfgidentificationmarkings.pdf

[Achto 27,919]

We use those bolts by the thousands at work for fastening sheet metal together. Fabrication dept. will punch the bolt hole in the part leaving a think edge inside the hole. These bolts are then threaded into the hole without having to tap the hole first. Speeds up assembly.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Achto

[pacer 3,174]

6 minutes ago, Achto said:

punch the bolt hole in the part leaving a think edge inside the hole. These bolts are then threaded into the hole without having tap the hole first.

 

@Achto Those few words describe them perfectly  -- and there are indeed in/on some of the panels on the one D that I ran outside and checked.....

[WHX?? 49,491]

Thanks Garry .... I was looking for that on McMaster but couldn't  find it. One nice thing about their site is they go into great detail about fasteners and what they are and should be used for. They even get into the metallurgy side of things. 

 

Exactly Dan.....unless it is high test grade, which there are such ones, you would twist the head off before you threaded say in a  frame. They work good for just chasing threads of paint too. Saves you from having to get out the tap & die set, dropping it and then playing 52 pick up like the Hosen @Pullstart often does. 

[RetroMower 349]

18 minutes ago, Achto said:

We use those bolts by the thousands at work for fastening sheet metal together. Fabrication dept. will punch the bolt hole in the part leaving a think edge inside the hole. These bolts are then threaded into the hole without having tap the hole first. Speeds up assembly.

I love definitive answers and it makes total sense now that it has been explained so clearly. I guess I was thinking in the complete wrong direction because so far there has been no need on this machine for such a fastener. I'm thinking in a previous repair these found their way from someone's stash to this 110 and same goes for the fancy Toro bolt. 

[WHX?? 49,491]

Speaking of stashes for you that don't know it @Achto is the official hardware queen. His plant tosses so much stuff it's unreal. Pallets and pallets of nuts and bolts that are no longer used on production models. Stainless, grade 8, plated you name it.

 Like the hoarder and hero he is he does a full gainer right in the dumpster after them. He does spread the wealth of his diving tho. He gives out these little baggies of hardware at plow day to partisapents like a dope seller giving away samples.  

Unbelievable what a big corporation  just tosses instead of recycling or repurpose. Makin too much money I guess. 

 

On a side note self tapping screws were used heavily, maybe invented , in '41/'42 to assemble war birds quicker for our war effort. 

God bless 

 

[Howie 899]

Having worked in the fastener industry for over 45 years, those bolts do indeed cut their

own threads. As was said most likely in thinner material.

[Handy Don 12,663]

42 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

Unbelievable what a big corporation  just tosses instead of recycling or repurpose. Makin too much money I guess

A company I was with decided to change their logo. All the old stationery was to be dumped -- including the blank sheets used for 2nd and 3rd pages and the envelopes along with a bunch of "expired" copier paper (I'm still not sure how paper "expires".) Got it off the loading doc and filled my minivan. 

My children used it for drawing and projects, my spouse and I used it in our printers. We plastered printed return address labels over the logo on the envelopes. Lasted us about 15 years.

[Pullstart 63,205]

Found this bolt on the floor shortly after @WHX?? called me in to this thread.  It comes from a truck frame.  It’s kind of round-triangle shaped and self taps into the frame for e-brake candle holders, etc.

 

 

[tunahead72 2,450]

2 hours ago, WHX?? said:

... He gives out these little baggies ... like a dope seller giving away samples.  

 

So many questions come to mind. 

 

And then they disappear. 

 

[8ntruck 7,183]

@Pullstart that is a self tapping, prevailing torque fastener.  The triangular section acts like a lock washer.  I think these were invented in the last 60's or early 70's.

[WHX?? 49,491]

10 hours ago, Pullstart said:

Found this bolt on the floor

Find any stray taps & dies whilst you were down there?!?!? 

[Pullstart 63,205]

34 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

Find any stray taps & dies whilst you were down there?!?!? 

Like an old woman… you don’t forget any of my faults!    I am pretty sure I’ve found them all by now… or at least as many as I ever will!

[pacer 3,174]

I worked the nite shift for a 'major airline' (Delta) and one of my buds took a part time job during the day to clean/restock a 'do it yourself carwash' and he quickly found that checking the dumpster was a first thing! People using the vacuum would clean out their cars/trucks and he found some amazing things. He made good side money on patching lawnmowers/edgers/leafblowers,etc,etc .... pulling them out of the dumpster.

 

One of the things he pretty often found was a PILE of mixed bolts - no nuts/washers, just bolts in grade 5 coarse thread ranging in sizes/lengths from 5/16 to 5/8. That was way back in the 80's? and I still have a good double handfull of those. They would be in a random sized cardboard box with what was apparently sweepings off the floor - guess if the hardware was on the floor it just went in the trash

[edgro 677]

Lawson supplies our bolts an nuts at work, they have a logo on them, rather than a name spelled out. Most likely so bolts can be identified in the course of a lawsuit or something. When we changed suppliers one time they were not allowed to do returns on nuts an bolts, i suspect for the same reason

[Howie 899]

The one pullstart showed is what we called a taptite bolt. Just taps its own threads to eliminate a step

in the assembly operation. Our plant in Belvidere specialized in those and we did manufacture some

at our plant. I'm sure others used other names for it also.