Aluminum bolts

ninjamansc

ninjamansc

THE Comstock
Control Rider
Ditto on McMaster-Carr. Love 'em. I do a lot of piping work and order nuts 'n bolts quite frequently. Fastenal is ok for the common sizes in stainless or grade 5/8, but anything else is a crap-shoot. Every store I've been to and needed something the response is always "Not in stock, but we can get it tomorrow." Hate it. McMaster has no minimum order and sell just about everything under the sun.
 
S

Spitz

New Member
Fastenal sucks for me too, even the not-so-common but a bolt store should carry usually they dont have, BUT wait they have 100million 1/4-20 bolts in every fricken length you can imagine.
 
noobinacan

noobinacan

Member
Spitz;201194 wrote: Fastenal sucks for me too, even the not-so-common but a bolt store should carry usually they dont have, BUT wait they have 100million 1/4-20 bolts in every fricken length you can imagine.
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yeah I've been frustrated with Fastenal before...now I just don't bother.
McMaster site is so epic.
They have a warehouse in Atlanta. so its next day to me as long as order in my 6pm

you can get all sorts of neato stuff on there :p
 
Bubba Zanetti

Bubba Zanetti

Member
McMaster-Carr or Fastenal FTW!

Greg, if you don't mind me asking, why aluminum? On the TZ I've switched alot of phillips heads screws over to hex caps that are steel or stainless steel. Aluminim on aliminum ain't so great AND they sem to wear out were steel doesn't.

My 2 cents.

BZ
 
Motofun352

Motofun352

Control Rider
Aluminum bolts on a MC? Maybe on selected items but generally speaking I would think not. While certain Al alloys are high strength, they suffer from fatigue issues. Also, corrosion can cause significant weakening in the bolts, themselves. SS bolts in Al castings is the best way to go. SS and Al are pretty close on the electrical scale so corrosion is minimized. Steel and Al are not close and corrosion is the result. Not quite sure about Ti??? Another concern would be galling caused by two identical materials between the bolt and the thread pocket. I know SS in SS has problems with galling, I would assume that Al in Al would be similar. I believe this is caused by the relative softness of these materials, once a micro "goober" is started in the threads it rolls up and eventually binds the threads together.
 
some guy #2

some guy #2

Member
I have/had problems with Al bolts rounding after a good season of taking wheels on and off. If I had the money I'd go SS or Ti bolts as I needed them just from a durability standpoint.
 
eE jeremy

eE jeremy

New Member
some guy #2;201262 wrote: I have/had problems with Al bolts rounding after a good season of taking wheels on and off. If I had the money I'd go SS or Ti bolts as I needed them just from a durability standpoint.
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Al should only be used on cosmetic applications in my opinion, fairing bolts, gauge cluster mounting, fuel cap screws, etc, nothing involving wheels, drivetrain, brakes, or suspension...
 
Meat

Meat

Member
eE jeremy;201267 wrote: Al should only be used on cosmetic applications in my opinion, fairing bolts, gauge cluster mounting, fuel cap screws, etc, nothing involving wheels, drivetrain, brakes, or suspension...
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+1000000000000!!!

Ti is about 1/2 the density (~0.16 lb/in^3) of steel and its strength/weight is higher that steel (density ~ 0.283 lb/in^3)
Al is about 1/3 the density (~0.102 lb/in^3) of steel and its strength/weight is higher than steel
(strength/weight is the ratio of the strength per unit weight of a material)

A high strength steel (i.e. Ph13-8, which is actually a stainless) fastener has a shear strength of about 125,000 psi
A standard Ti fastener has a shear strength of about 95,000 psi
Most higher strength Aluminums I deal with have shear allowables of around 40,000 psi....not even close to steel!

We don't use aluminum fasteners in aircraft, unless they are rivets and we are getting away from rivets.
 
Meat

Meat

Member
BTW: The numbes above are just from memory and for quick approximations that I use to quickly see if a fastener is in the ballpark for sizing. But, they should be pretty darn close to reality.
 
Meat

Meat

Member
Not to mention the stiffness of each material. Steel being the stiffest, aluminum being the most flexible.
 
gkotlin

gkotlin

New Member
I'm looking for the weight savings where it's appropriate. Obviously can't use it for important items. Titanium is for strength and light weight, so for rotor bolts and such.

Fairing stay bolts, turning them on a lathe to make quick release mounts instead of bolts etc.
 
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