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Fasteners - where to buy good quality these days?


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Hi Folks,

 

Is there anyone who can tell me where they source their bolts & nuts from? I'm looking for a reputable supplier either in Perth (or online) and preferably one who does not import from China.

 

Looking for Metric Grade 8.8 bolts and nylock nuts (grade 8 also) for use on my airframe for regular maintenance.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Andrew

 

 

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Andrew, I use A. M Bolts & Nuts in Bassendean. They carry German Bremick fasteners, a lot of American brands of fasteners, nuts and washers, and they have a wide range of stuff. I've never yet seen them supply a Chinese fastener.

 

I use a quite a few high tensile American (Imperial) Grade 5 and Grade 8 fasteners (metric equivalent = 8.8 and 10.9), and they always have a wide range of high tensile fasteners available.

 

They stock a very handy product in the form of hardened washers by Brighton Best of California. These are pretty necessary to use with high tensile fasteners, otherwise a regular mild steel washer flattens or bells out, under heavy tensile loads.

 

You will actually also be surprised at what Masters carry by way of fasteners. However, they sell a lot of them in small quantities, and charge exceptionally well for those small quantities.

 

But - they do have neat little bulk boxes of HT fasteners, supplied by Champion, and they're only $20 a box. For that amount, you get a very good selection of fasteners and nuts all in a neat plastic, lidded and compartmented box.

 

I've actually bought more than one box! :cheezy grin:For that kind of $$$'s, you can't go wrong. The HT metric box contains 236 nuts and bolts over a range of lengths, and diameters from about 4mm to 10mm.

 

They also have these boxes with flanged automotive HT fasteners, in both metric and imperial, as well as washers and other varieties of hardware as well. Masters pretty useless website doesn't show everything they carry.

 

https://www.masters.com.au/product/900044036/champion-metric-bolt-and-nut-assortment-236pk

 

Cheers ....

 

 

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Andrew, I use A. M Bolts & Nuts in Bassendean. They carry German Bremick fasteners, a lot of American brands of fasteners, nuts and washers, and they have a wide range of stuff. I've never yet seen them supply a Chinese fastener.I use a quite a few high tensile American (Imperial) Grade 5 and Grade 8 fasteners (metric equivalent = 8.8 and 10.9), and they always have a wide range of high tensile fasteners available.

They stock a very handy product in the form of hardened washers by Brighton Best of California. These are pretty necessary to use with high tensile fasteners, otherwise a regular mild steel washer flattens or bells out, under heavy tensile loads.

 

You will actually also be surprised at what Masters carry by way of fasteners. However, they sell a lot of them in small quantities, and charge exceptionally well for those small quantities.

 

But - they do have neat little bulk boxes of HT fasteners, supplied by Champion, and they're only $20 a box. For that amount, you get a very good selection of fasteners and nuts all in a neat plastic, lidded and compartmented box.

 

I've actually bought more than one box! :cheezy grin:For that kind of $$$'s, you can't go wrong. The HT metric box contains 236 nuts and bolts over a range of lengths, and diameters from about 4mm to 10mm.

 

They also have these boxes with flanged automotive HT fasteners, in both metric and imperial, as well as washers and other varieties of hardware as well. Masters pretty useless website doesn't show everything they carry.

 

https://www.masters.com.au/product/900044036/champion-metric-bolt-and-nut-assortment-236pk

 

Cheers ....

oh THANKYOU Onetrack - your info is magic!

 

I will check both suppliers. I'm replacing my x4 landing gear bolts at the moment they're M8 x 70 (Grade 8.8)

 

I know Chinese products have come along way in quality but I can't trust their fasteners just yet.

 

Thanks mate!

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

One problem with Metric fasteners is they are all thread and this is a NO in airframe assembly, aircraft connections rely on shear not a tension connection as used in structural design and use of thread in a loaded connection is a BIG NO.

 

Unbrako bolts have a specification similar to AN hardware and do offer bolts with plain shang but limited and the excess thread and this has to be cut down. AN hardware is not that expensive and offers a large selection of bolts lengths offering a plain shank for the load bearing services.

 

 

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You could try Western Airmotive at Jandakot for AN bolts.

Thanks a million for that link rgmwa, you know how hard it is to drill that little hole in the end of a bolt.

 

 

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oh THANKYOU Onetrack - your info is magic!I will check both suppliers. I'm replacing my x4 landing gear bolts at the moment they're M8 x 70 (Grade 8.8)

 

I know Chinese products have come along way in quality but I can't trust their fasteners just yet.

 

Thanks mate!

Bremick is actually an Aussie company based in Sydney. Stick with AN fasteners meant for aviation and give the others a miss. It's not worth the few cents you save. Peter at Yarrawonga Fight Training runs a pilot shop and ships Australia wide. He also handles Airborne, Air Creation and P & M trikes so talks the language

 

 

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M8 is about 0.002'' oversize to an AN5 - I substituted these on the Tucano for the reason as I will not trust an unspecified bolt in any primary connections in any aircraft.

 

For others you have some real issues

 

 

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