Notes on Nuts and Bolts

A screw thread is a helical groove on a shaft. When used for delivering

power, it is called a /drive screw/. Drive screws aren't really all that
efficient, as they loose a significant amount of power to friction.
However, this friction can be put to use in the case of /threaded
fasteners/. You might say that a drive screw is an /inclined plane/
wrapped around a post, while a fastener is a /wedge/ wrapped around a post.
Bolt Terms
Nut and Bolt terms
/A 1/2-13UNC-2A-3 bolt, with a 2" thread and a 1" shank./
As nuts and bolts are not perfectly rigid, but stretch slightly under
load, the distribution of stress on the threads is not uniform. In fact,
on a theoretically infinitely long bolt, the first thread takes a third
of the load, the first three threads take three-quarters of the load,
and the first six threads take essentially the whole load. Beyond the
first six threads, the remaining threads are under essentially no load
at all. Therefore, a nut or bolt with six threads acts very much like an
infinitely long nut or bolt (and it's a lot cheaper).
Stress on threads
/Stress on bolt threads. Note how the majority of
the stress is on the first thread to the left.
Image from Spiralock <http://www.spiralock.com/>./

1
2
3
4
5
6

Thread
34%
23%
16%
11%
9%
7%

%
34%
55%
71%
82%
91%
98%

%Sum

There is little point in having more than six threads in anything. Nuts
with National Coarse threads typically have 5 threads in them, whereas
nuts with National Fine threads have about 8 threads. Nuts are usually
stronger than the bolts they are on, which is to say that the bolt will
usually break before the nut strips.
It is often said that two threads must be exposed above
reason for this is that the first two threads of a bolt
formed, and may not engage the nut properly. If they're
share, the other threads in the nut will be overloaded,
strip.

a nut. The
are often poorly
not doing their
and the nut may

Thread Terms
Metric and American threads both conform to the same profile, a series

of equilateral triangles with the crests chopped off and the roots rounded.
Thread Profile
/External Standard Thread Profile/
The depth of the threads is 54.127% of the distance between threads, and
the radius of the rounded root is 14.434% of the distance between
threads. Another way of looking at it would be to say that ^1 /_8 of the
height of each equilateral triangle is chopped off the top, and ^1 /_4
of the height off the bottom, leaving only ^5 /_8 of the height
available. (The height of an equilateral triangle is equal to the width
times half of the square root of three; ^5 /_8 of this is 0.54127.)
The root diameter of the thread is the nominal diameter minus 108.3% of
the pitch of the thread. This means that fine threads have larger root
diameters than coarse threads, and thus larger tap drill sizes. For
threading using a tap or die, most threads are not cut to full depth,
but to 75% or so. The resulting threads are not quite as strong, but
full depth threading is very hard on the tap or die. Threading on a
lathe presents no difficulty cutting to full depth.
Thread Specifications
Thread specifications are written thus:
*1/2-13UNC-2*
which means:
*
*
*
*

bolt diameter
threads per inch
thread type
fit class

There are four Fit Classes, ranging from falling-off-loose to

scientific-instrument-tight.
*
*
*
*

Class
Class
Class
Class

1
2
3
4

=
=
=
=

Loose
Free
Medium
Close

The class is followed by an A for external (screw) threads and a B for

internal (nut) threads. Most are class 2. 3 is for precision assembly,
and 4 is used for things like lathe lead screws and measuring instruments.
In November 1948, NATO issued a new standard for threads, the Unified
National system. American bolts had flat-bottomed groves between
threads, which interfered with British round-topped threads. Likewise,
British bolts wouldn't fit American nuts. The Unified system uses a
round-bottom grove to fit the British threads, and a flat-topped thread
to fit the American threads, so it not only fit itself, but both
existing systems.
American/United National Threads
Size

Diameter

TPI

Coarse TPI
Fine
Root Dia.
Coarse Hex
Head
Size
SAE
Washer
ID
SAE
Washer
OD
SAE
Washer
Thickness
#0
0.0600 #1
0.0730 64
#2
0.0860 56
^1 /_32 "
#3
0.0990 48
#4
0.1120 40
^1 /_32 "
#5
0.1250 40
#6
0.1380 32
^3 /_64 "
#8
0.1640 32
^3 /_64 "
#10
0.1900 24
^1 /_16 "
#12
0.2160 24
^1 /_16 "
^1 /_4 "
0.2500
^5 /_8 "
^1 /_16
^5 /_16 "
0.3125
^11 /_16 "
^1
/_16 "
^3 /_8 "
0.3750
^13 /_16 "
^1
/_16 "
^7 /_16 "
0.4375
^15 /_16 "
^1
/_16 "
^1 /_2 "
0.5000
1-^1 /_16 "
^3
/_32 "
^9 /_16 "
0.5625
1-^3 /_16 "
^3
/_32 "
^5 /_8 "
0.6250
1-^5 /_16 "
^3 /_32 "
^3 /_4 "
0.7500
1-^1 /_2 "
^1
/_8 "
^7 /_8 "
0.8750
1-^3 /_4 "
^1
/_8 "
1"
1.0000 8
"
^1 /_8 "

80
72
64

0.0447
0.0560
0.0668

^3 /_32 "

^1 /_4 "

56
48

0.0771
0.0813

^1 /_8 "

^5 /_16 "

44
40

0.0971
0.1073

^5 /_32 "

^3 /_8 "

36

0.1299

^3 /_16 "

^7 /_16 "

32

0.1570

^7 /_32 "

^1 /_2 "

28

0.1722

^1 /_4 "

^9 /_16 "

20
"
18

28

0.1850 ^3 /_8 "

^9 /_32 "

24

0.2400 ^1 /_2 "

^11 /_32 "

16

24

0.2940 ^9 /_16 "

^13 /_32 "

14

20

0.3440 ^5 /_8 "

^15 /_32 "

13

20

0.4000 ^3 /_4 "

^17 /_32 "

12

18

0.4540 ^7 /_8 "

^19 /_32 "

11

18

0.5070 ^15 /_16 "

^21 /_32 "

10

16

0.6200 1-^1 /_8 "

^13 /_16 "

14

0.7310 1-^5 /_16 "

^15 /_16 "

12

0.8370 1-^1 /_2 "

1-^1 /_16 "

A much more complete table is available here

<http://www.usi.edu/science/engrtech/COURSWRK/met371/UN_thrds.htm>.

1-^3 /_4

Metric Threads
Metric threads use the same thread profile as SAE threads. The biggest
difference is that the thread pitch (distance between consecutive
threads) is given instead of threads per unit distance.
Diameter
Coarse
Pitch
mm
Fine
Pitch
mm
Root Dia.
Coarse
mm
Hex
Head
Size
mm
ISO
Washer
ID
mm
ISO
Washer
OD
mm
ISO
Washer
Thickness
mm
1
0.25
0.7294
1.1
0.25
0.8294
1.2
0.25
0.9294
1.4
0.30
1.075
1.6
0.35
1.221 3.2
1.8
0.35
1.421
2
0.40
1.567 4
2.2
0.45
1.713
2.5
0.45
2.013 5
3
0.50
2.459 5.5
3.4
7.0
0.6
3.5
0.60
2.850
4
0.70
0.50
3.242 7
4.5
9.0
0.9
4.5
0.75
0.50
3.688
5
0.80
0.50
4.134 8
5.5
10
11
5.5
0.50
6
1.00
0.50
4.917 10
6.7
12.5
1.8
7
1.00
0.75
5.917
8
1.25
0.75
6.647 13
8.7
17
1.8
9
1.25
0.75
7.647
10
1.50
0.75
8.376 16
10.9
21
2.2
11
1.50
0.75
9.376
12
1.75
0.75
10.11 18
13.4
24
2.7
14
2.00
1.00
11.83 21
16
2.00
1.00
13.83 24
17.4
30
3.3
18
2.50
1.00
15.29
20
2.50
1.00
17.29 30
21.5
37.9
3.3
Bolt Strength
The Society of Automotive Engineering has issued standard J429, which
sets forth standards for both strength. The SAE grade of a bolt is
marked on it's head in the form of short radial lines, the number of
lines being two less than the SAE grade (i.e.. 3 lines for grade 5).
SAE Grade
Size Range
Strength (psi)
1
^1 /_4 " to 1-^1 /_2 " 60,000

2
2
5
5
7
8

^1 /_4 "
^7 /_8 "
^1 /_4 "
1-^1 /_8
^1 /_4 "
^1 /_4 "

to ^3 /_4 "
74,000
to 1-^1 /_2 " 60,000
to 1" 120,000
" to 1-^1 /_2 "
105,000
to 1-^1 /_2 " 133,000
to 1-^1 /_2 " 150,000

ASTM standards are sometimes used as well; A325 bolts are the equivalent
of SAE 5, and A490 bolts are the equivalent of SAE 8.
Preload
A very misunderstood part of bolting stuff together is /preload/, which
is the tension placed on the bolt by the nut (as opposed to the load). A
sufficiently high preload will protect the bolt from fatigue as the load
changes, as the varying load will change the clamping force on the
bolted components, rather than the tension on the bolt. (This is not
strictly true, but for a tinkerer like me, it's adequate.) As a rule of
thumb, the preload should exceed the maximum load by 15% or so.
In order for this to work, however, the joint must be stiffer than the
bolt. For this reason, the shank of high-tech bolts are often necked
down to the same diameter of the root of the thread. As long as it isn't
thinner than the root of the thread, it isn't any weaker than the
thread, and therefore doesn't effect overall bolt strength, but it is
significantly less stiff than the original shank.
There are two ways to measure preload on a bolt; a torque wrench, and by
measuring the angle the nut has turned. Of the two, the latter is more
accurate, as friction plays a significant - and more importantly,
/indeterminate/ - role when using a torque wrench.
*Torque = K preload diameter*
K, the so-called /Nut Factor/, usually varies between 0.3 and 0.1, and
is very sensitive to a number of factors, ranging from temperature to
thread condition, even to how fast the bolt is tightened.
Measuring the angle the nut has turned is simply measuring how much the
bolt is stretching, equal to the pitch (distance between threads) times
the number of turns. Using this requires that the components being
bolted don't compress much (or compress a known amount), and that the
"spring rate" of the bolt be known.
*Turns = preload (spring rate pitch)*
For example, if the "spring rate" of a 1/2-13 bolt is 50,000 pounds per
inch (note that I made that up, and that most bolts will yield /long/
before stretching an inch), and you need 500 pounds of preload, you'll
need to stretch the bolt 500 50000 = 0.01 inch. At 13 threads per inch
(0.0769 inches per thread), this would equate to 0.13 turns, or about
45 past snug.
If more than one bolt is used in a joint, and those bolts are closer
together than about four diameters, the preload on one bolt will effect
the preload on the other bolts by compressing the joint. This effect is
called "crosstalk", and then all bets are off. Joints that are
significantly less stiff than the bolts, such as joints involving
gaskets, suffer much worse from crosstalk. The best way to control

crosstalk is to use a carefully thought out tightening sequence (usually

a spiral starting at the center, or for circular patterns, alternating
bolts), and to tighten the bolts in small steps. Even so, it's a crap
shoot.
References
* E-mail me <mailto:bill@gizmology.net> at bill@gizmology.net if you
find a mistake!
* Coburn-Myers Fastening Systems: Dimensional Specifications
<http://www.coburnmyers.com/html/technical_dimensional_specifications.asp>
* Model Engineering Thread Data
<http://www.colinusher.info/Livesteam/mewdata.html>
Back <http://www.gizmology.net/index.htm>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------10/03/2016 17:35:07
2003 W. E. Johns