fasteners non discriminatory

[John Ziebron]

I needed a new dust collector when I moved and have a larger shop, so a couple months ago I bought the G0441 3HP cyclone unit and the optional stand. A couple of days ago I finally got around to start putting it together. The basic stand parts were first and they are all held together using SAE 3/8 inch hardware. No problem there, 9/16 wrenches for the bolt heads and the nuts. Then I started to assemble the cyclone parts of the DC. Most of those are held together with SAE 5/16 inch hardware - kindof. There are 2 different lengths of bolts supplied and, depending on the location, either a regular nut or a lock nut. Interestingly, both types of nuts need 1/2 inch tools as they should. But both sizes of bolts have 12 MM heads. I couldn't believe it at first so I had to check the threads and they are indeed 5/16ths. So here we have bolts with SAE threads and Metric heads. Not really a big issue for me, just surprised. I guess I shouldn't be these days though. Anybody run across this marriage from other than Grizzly?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The US auto manufacturers started doing that in the '70s. That is why I had to have 2 sets of tools when I was still acting as my own mechanic.

[Art Mann]

I own a 2014 Can-Am Spyder, which is a Canadian designed and built 3 wheeled motorcycle like vehicle. The fasteners are a mix of SAE and metric sizes. I was surprised that a Canadian company would use any SAE fasteners. Fortunately, I have a complete set of metric tools from all the years I rode Honda Goldwings.

[Rick Moyer]

Guys, what he is saying is the heads are metric and the threads are SAE, not just some SAE fasteners and some metric fasteners. Is this really anything anyone else has seen? I certainly have not. I have seen a number of things with both metric and SAE, but not on the same fastener.

[Erik Christensen]

None of the grizzly fasteners I hang out with have ever indicated even a trace of bigotry or bias... maybe they only discriminate against non-idiots (which is why I have not experienced it :) )

[Ronald Blue]

5/16x24 and M8x1.0 are very close in both thread diameter and pitch even though the designation is different. The quality standards on these bolts is probably loose enough that they would appear the same as the 5/16x24 but are really metric. I would suspect you actually have 8 mm bolts but tolerances are loose enough they appear the same as 5/16-24. The main thing is they do the job they were intended for and you won't have a need to bother with them again. Hope the dust collector performs well for you.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I recall Renault had some sort of weird oil drain plug back in the 1980's.

I managed one of those 10 min oil change places back then & the district manager hinted very strongly to us that we should always be out of oil filters for a Renault - - and send the customer down the road to the competition & let them have the claim for a new engine.

[glenn bradley]

As you've noticed from the responses, this has been going on for awhile. It is a little unsettling the first time you run into it. It just "feels" wrong.

[Curt Harms]

As you've noticed from the responses, this has been going on for awhile. It is a little unsettling the first time you run into it. It just "feels" wrong.

Since the mid '90s at least.

[John Ziebron]

OK, I'll try this once more since Rick seems to be the only one that understood this oddity. In my 60+ years of playing with nuts and bolts I do know my sizes, both SAE and metric. Here is a picture that I hope will help explain it also. The threads on the upper bolt are 5/16-18. Notice that the nut on that bolt requires a 1/2 wrench (a 12mm wrench is too small for this nut and a 13mm wrench is sloppy on it). But the head of this bolt requires a 12mm wrench. The bottom bolt is a M8-1.25. The nut for it requires a 12mm wrench. As Ron supposed, the the threads of these two bolts are close but not similar enough that you can exchange their nuts. The metric nut will actually thread about 70-80% of the way on the 5/16-18 bolt and I have never run across any hardware manufactured so poorly that this kind of exchange will work. So again, I'm showing that, in this case, Grizzly has supplied SAE threaded bolts with Metric heads. Go figure.

[Wes Billups]

This kind of reminds me of my Woodtec shaper. The bolts that hold the fence to the table broke and they looked just like 1/2"-13 tpi but upon closer inspection I found they were 1/2" x 12 tpi.

I've never found anything that would work so I'm stuck using channel locks to adjust the fence.

[Jim Laumann]

John

I ran in to the situation you describe just this last weekend....I had picked up a Jet 1221VS lathe and stand on Black Friday - finally got around to working on the assembly/setup of the stand/machine on New Years day. Some of the fasteners for the stand were 5/16-18 coarse threads, but the heads were recessed for a 5mm allen key.

Jim

[Curt Harms]

This kind of reminds me of my Woodtec shaper. The bolts that hold the fence to the table broke and they looked just like 1/2"-13 tpi but upon closer inspection I found they were 1/2" x 12 tpi.

I've never found anything that would work so I'm stuck using channel locks to adjust the fence.


Drill the odd size holes oversized and tap for helicoils? Though I guess channel locks are are whole lot easier.

[John Stankus]

This kind of reminds me of my Woodtec shaper. The bolts that hold the fence to the table broke and they looked just like 1/2"-13 tpi but upon closer inspection I found they were 1/2" x 12 tpi.

I've never found anything that would work so I'm stuck using channel locks to adjust the fence.

Are they British Standard Whitworth like these?

http://www.amazon.com/HEXAGON-SOCKET-SCREWS-Class-Black/dp/B016QSUI74/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1452208684&sr=8-3&keywords=1%2F2+bsw+bolt

[Ronald Blue]

This kind of reminds me of my Woodtec shaper. The bolts that hold the fence to the table broke and they looked just like 1/2"-13 tpi but upon closer inspection I found they were 1/2" x 12 tpi.

I've never found anything that would work so I'm stuck using channel locks to adjust the fence.

Sounds like British Whitworth. Here's a source.

britishfasteners.com/bolts/steel-bolts/steel-bsw-bolts.html