Bolt and fastener chart: what's that dingus called?

Bolt Depot's "Fastener Type Chart" is exactly what I need so as not to sound like a total idiot when I come up with some interesting project requiring a certain type of fitting and hie myself to the DIY shop to try to explain what I need to the clerk. More practically, it also gives you the right search terms to use to find the dingus you need.

Fastener Type Chart (via Make)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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awjtawjt

I’m late to this party, but hey, wanna screw?
mo-seph

No mention of Pozidiv? Especially since it’s so easily confusable with Philips (and results in stripped screws if you get it wrong…). Maybe it’s not so popular in the states? In the uk, most screws are Pozidriv, not Philips.
- Donald Petersen
  
  Yeah, must not be so popular here in the states. I’ve screwed a bunch of screws in my day, but I’ve never heard of Pozidriv.
  
  I just went and peeked at Wikipedia, and I’m sure I’ve encountered (and no doubt stripped) a bunch of Pozidriv screws with a Phillips driver. But what the hell, as far as the non-specialist backyard DIYer culture in my circles is concerned, you got yer basic slotted and yer basic Phillips (usually a #1 and a #2), a handful of SAE and metric Allen wrenches, and if you’re Mister Fancy Pants (or own a GM car from the 90s), a selection of Torx drivers.
  
  We’re an unsophisticated bunch, out here in the Colonies.
Anonymous

“Fillister” head is conspicuously absent…
Anonymous

+1 for http://mcmaster.com/

The above bolt chart is for amateurs, shutins, and amateur shutins. McMaster-Carr has bolts that only exist because of recent advances in string theory.
Anonymous

Sweet… But no doubt they are all called something else in English English
retrojoe

As someone who actually sold fasteners for many years I’m going to sign on to the camp that says threaded fasteners that are intended or can be inserted into something (threaded into a whole) are screws. So those aren’t “hex bolts” they’re “hex cap screws”. Carriage bolt are “bolts” as they themselves are not intended to be threaded into a hole. They are always used with a separate retainer (a “nut”).

I love the Bolt Depot and have spent a lot of money with them the last few years but I’m surprised that they would actually go against common industry terms for these fasteners.
- Donald Petersen
  
  I love the Bolt Depot and have spent a lot of money with them the last few years but I’m surprised that they would actually go against common industry terms for these fasteners.
  
  It doesn’t surprise me. Sure, by the Machinery’s Handbook definition, cylinder head bolts are actually cap screws, but almost nobody who takes apart engines and reassembles them calls them that. (I can’t speak for line workers in Detroit.)
  
  It might just be that they’re out to sell fasteners rather than re-educate the general public about our taxonomical misconceptions. I know if I wanted to place an order for head bolts and found only cap screws available ten years ago, I would have begun looking elsewhere.
  
  One must consider one’s market, after all.
Xeno

where is Apple’s proprietary ‘screw you’ screw?
Anonymous

I love this.
I am 38 years old and 90 percent of this chart is burned into my brain.
If you work with your hands and pay attention these terms should be common knowledge.
Study it, desk jockeys!
whitcwa

My favorite bolt chart is:
http://www.omicron.uk.com/omi-bolt.html
Kerouac

This is a great example of why I love it when Cory takes his shift. Sure, the other Boingers are excellent as well, but only Cory can bring us that splendid mix of EFF, bananas, and home repair hardware!
Jack

Sex bolts and mating screws… There you go!
shadowfirebird

Allow me to add a personal certification to the concept that if you confuse a posi head for a phillips head, you’re more than likely to end up with what’s technically known as “waste steel with a custom-made decorative indent on the end”.

Especially annoying when said waste steel is three inches long and 90% of that is screwed into your new kitchen wall, with no idea how to get it out again. Trust me on that one…

Why do they make screws of such soft steel?
- KWillets
  
  Screws are made of soft steel because hard steel is brittle.
devophill

Xeno, those are machine screws.

Because it’s not on this chart, and I spent some time trying to find out what it was called a few weeks ago, here is a clevis pin. it’s usually fastened with a cotter pin. I needed one and had lost the broken one that I needed to replace, and I found out how difficult it is to ask for something that you don’t know the name of.
- Jack
  
  Whenever I hear the words â€œcotter pinâ€ I keep on thinking of the Davey & Goliath episode where they were in a soapbox derby and someone didnâ€™t properly fasten (ie: bend out) the cotter pin.
  
  That show taught me nothing about religion but it taught me something about fasteners.
ackpht

I take one of the old fasteners with me to the hardware store whenever I can- that way I know I’m going to match the length and thread pitch. Then I just show it to the clerk and say “I need some more of these.”

Besides, if you ask for “hex head cap screws”, some clerks wonder why you didn’t just say “Allen head bolts”.
Amelia_G

Without a DIN (deutsche Institut fÃ¼r Normung) number I doubt my ability to google the right English equivalent for these! Merci pour discussion.
grikdog

Yeah, you gotta hate hardware sales clerks, usually football jocks from the local university. The peril of knowing more than the clerk is acute, as my foray to buy a flat bastard file reminds me. I don’t what those guys’ problem is, but give yourself a treat some day. Head down to Menard’s and ask the idiot for a stud finder. Nobody under 40 has a clue.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Funny. Our hardware store clerks are all forty-something gay bodybuilders who could build a house from scratch. Asking for a stud finder will elicit a laugh, though.
holtt

This is one of those topics that needs a threaded discussion option.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  This is one of those topics that needs a threaded discussion option.
  
  Aaaaah. Screw you, you tool.
  - irksome
    
    I told myself as soon as someone went there, I’d bolt.
    
    There was a young man with a corkscrew joint
    who searched the world over for a girl to anoint.
    
    When he finally found her, he fell down dead;
    the girl he had found had a right-hand thread.
invictus

What would cylindrical nuts fall under, then? (specifically, these: http://www.ikeafans.com/forums/swaps-exchanges/25384-ikea-fans-photo-hardware-needed.html )
- DJBudSonic
  
  I think those belong to a class of fasteners call “threaded inserts” – which also includes t-nuts, nutserts, etc… a great place to view/buy fasteners is the almost always reliable McMaster/Carr – if you love these types of illustrations see their front page:
  
  http://www.mcmaster.com/ and if you need a doorstop get their printed catalog.
  
  You should know that you are never supposed to disassemble IKEA furniture after it’s initial build – it’s never quite the same the second time.
  - invictus
    
    Thanks! That’s exactly the kind of doorstop I need, to replace the disassembled chairs I’ve been using as doorstops, due to lack of said nuts :/
    
    Also, believe it or not, this wasn’t IKEA furniture. They just happened to be sourcing the same connectors.
hep cat

No Cheese Headed screws?

Also, I have to agree that the typical american conceit that all cross headed screws are some sort of Philips head is a drag. Go to the hardware store and try to buy a screwdriver to fix a camera or something.

“cylinder head bolts are actually cap screws” That’s funny , all the cylinder head’s I can remember are held on with studs and nuts.
- Donald Petersen
  
  That’s funny , all the cylinder head’s I can remember are held on with studs and nuts.
  
  Not me. The only studmounted head I was privileged to remove was on my XJ6′s original straight six. Christ, wotta turd. It’s hard enough having to break the gasket seal and hoist up a cylinder head from the exact center of the engine compartment, but when there are a dozen fat studs forcing you to lift straight up several inches before you can get any lateral movement… I’d never actually had to employ an engine hoist just to remove a cylinder head before.
  
  My Fords and Toyotas used bolts… excuse me, “cap screws.” The Hondas I can’t remember.
dancentury

What, no pentalobular… eh?
Vanwall

Hex head cap screws are not Allen head screws or bolts – in the industry, a correct hex head cap screw has an external hex head with a washer face formed underneath where it meets the surface of the material, usually metal, it is screwed or bolted into. Socket head cap screws are also supposed to be designed with tighter thread and machining tolerances. Any real torque setting should be measured with some sort of anti-seizing compound on the threads engaged, or you’ll only be close but no cigar. Use a split helical lock washer on a flat washer if at all possible. Always check the grade of bolt, and don’t substitute if at all possible, especially in structural or critical applications.

They left out heavy pattern hex nuts, which are the same height as the bolt diameter for more thread engagement, and have a larger hex size to give more surface area in contact. Nylon insert lock nuts, and indeed any lock nut, should not be used to adjust more than a few threads down, as they increase the chances of galling the threads; they were designed for exact measured joining. Try to match grades on nuts to bolts.

They conflated Phillips drives, including related Posi-drives and the like, that are intended to “cam out”, or slip out of the drive on the screw to save tooling costs, with Frearson drive, which is not designed to cam out, and is not designed for Phillips-type drivers.

All internal drives are for manufacturing ease or security – manufacturers could care less if the end user needs a new driver, or it’s hard to keep a Phillips in cross by hand; remember, they use machines that are much steadier. The Torx drive, like most others, exists because it saves huge money on the production line tooling heads. Apple’s latest choice is for security purposes only, it adds nothing to the production line savings.

Lag in this case refers to the kind of thread created when it’s screwed into wood. They are not intended to protrude. In the woodworking industry, bolt has supplanted screw regular vernacular in this type.

Sheet metal screws can be used in wood, wood screws should not be used in metal. Sheet metal screws are typically surface hardened, wood screws are not – in addition, the shoulder on a wood screw is to insure you aren’t threading into two pieces of wood as separate threaded paths and not drawing them together as intended, as the shoulder flattens the threads as it enters. Another aspect of using sheet metal screws in wood – many sheet metal screws a type B thread, a finer, and therefore shallower thread which is preferred for metal assemblies. Wood screws, and some sheet metal screws, use type A thread which is coarser and holds in wood better.

Nice initial reference chart in some ways, tho.
retrojoe

Phillips are pretty awful, which comes from the fact the drivers are designed to cam out of the screw under high torque (from a manufacturing standpoint this is a positive as it saves money from breakage due to over zealous workers). As drivers are almost always much harder than the screw they eat away at the material a bit. Repeat that over and over, especially with an electric driver and the screws strip pretty quickly. A slotted head screw with a properly fitting hollow ground blade is actually better than a phillips (but that’s a pipe dream 99% of the time) as far as durability is concerned.

When I got my old British motorcycle all of the posi’s had been stripped out through use of Phillips drivers. When I replaced them with new posi’s using the correct driver I was very happy with them. But a Robertson’s, hex or Torx will always be best.
Carlos Mal

It would be awesome to have something like this in other languages.
Kerouac

Nothing better for stripped screws than a Dremel or similar rotary cutting tool. Just use it to “create” a new slot or X, and use a regular screwdriver to get it out. Or you can just say to hell with it and cut the head off completely. Your call.
Anonymous

It looks like Ikea products favor Pozidrv over Phillips. The slots in Pozidriv screws are supposed to be superior to Phillips in the way they’re made and torqued. But I have yet to wrap my mind around how that is the case.

Ikea products are basically thin, honeycombed cardboard inside. But their screws need to be turned so hard, that I always manage to strip some heads. This is even while going slow, and pressing down.
- Donald Petersen
  
  But I have yet to wrap my mind around how that is the case.
  
  Take a peek here. The idea is that since the internal cross-hole in a Phillips head is sloped, the driver will “cam out,” or lift out of the hole if excessive torque is applied, thus preventing breakage. The Pozidriv slot is, I gather, straight and vertical, with no rounded corners, thus allowing one to apply more rotational force with less slippage. This requires use of an actual Pozidriv driver, because the rounded corners of a Phillips driver will deform the softer screwhead if enough force is applied.
  
  Also, it seems that Pozidriv screws and drivers must be perfectly in line with each other, whereas Phillips screws and drivers allow a few degrees of angular offset.
  
  Did I get that right, guys?
Sapa

ty took a screenie
ackpht

I read somewhere that at one time the distinction between bolts and screws was that bolts were expected to work with threads (as in tapped holes or nuts), while screws made their own threads as they are inserted. But since we have lag bolts (which make their own threads) and machine screws (which work with existing threads), it seems the nomenclature is arbitrary. Established, but arbitrary.
- PaulR
  
  From the Screw Wiki, which quotes the Machinery’s Handbook and, I’m told, concords with ASM B18.2.1 – 1996″:
  “A bolt is an externally threaded fastener designed for insertion through holes in assembled parts, and is normally intended to be tightened or released by torquing a nut.”
  
  Which is roughly what I sussed out over my lifetime of taking things apart and putting them back together. Machine screws, on the other hand, kinda break this rule, as often they don’t have nuts on them, as often use the threads in the assembled parts to torque them.
  
  You could defer to the, I’m sure, fascinating read Distinguishing Bolts from Screws”, by the US Dept. of Homeland Security:
  http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/legal/informed_compliance_pubs/icp013.ctt/icp013.pdf
  (Yes, they’re protecting the American Public, eh.)
  
  Cory, if you don’t already have one, I highly recommend getting the brilliant Pocket References by Thomas J. Glover. Then when you’re off the the hardware store to pick up a few dozen #8 x 2 1/2 inch wood screws with a 1/2 inch body, you’ll know which drill bit you’d need for the pilot hole when drilled in hardwood.
  http://www.amazon.ca/Pocket-Reference-Everything-Need-Right/dp/1885071337
  
  Three Cheers for Nomenclature!
  - Anonymous
    
    Machine screws are usually used with a tapped hole in the material instead of a through-hole with nut. The threads are actually slightly different as well, with machine screws having a larger surface area of contact to more evenly distribute the load (and run less risk of distorting or stripping the threads which are much harder to repair when there’s no nut to just throw away).
    Lag screws have their own subtle difference as well in that they are designed for a hole which has been pre-drilled. This allows them to have a heavier shaft. (The pre-drill is usually for the same diameter as the shaft). They’re primarily used for load-bearing applications.
    The bolt/screw parlance in use also depends on the head, (is it used with a screwdriver vs a wrench), and the application, (does the head protrude or sit flush?)
- soongtype
  
  I ran into this bit of confusion last night while I was buying materials to make a work table. I’m a beginner when it comes to carpentry and the instructables.com project I was working off called for “lag bolts”, but at the store I only saw “lag screws”. I always thought it was the way you said, with screws making their own threads and bolts using existing ones. So confusing.
avraamov

tut tut.

set screw = grub screw.
socket screw = allen bolt
lag bolt = coach screw
carriage bolt = coach bolt.

yes – pozidrive screws are different to phillips, and superior IMO.

and all cower before the sheer might of my brand new festool C12.
_Username

And lastly this chart missed “Sky Hooks”.I know they been around at least since I was a kid. I remember my older brothers sent me to the attic to retrive one once… that really sucked spending the night up there.
Anonymous

And of course these are the names in American Englisk. In the UK Carriage Bolts are called Coach Bolts.
tim

Let’s not forget the *really* specialist bolts listed in a myriad of illustrations exemplified by this -
weird bolts graphic.
When you need one of those, you *really* need one.
Anonymous

The chart is incomplete. They forgot the self-sealing stem bolts.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  They’re trying to avoid being paid in yamok sauce.
Lobster

Nice to finally know in how many ways we’re all screwed.
Anonymous

McMaster.com has a pretty good bolt/screw/washer selection system. Plus jillions of other items. Probably one of the best sites for finding and buying hardware. Even when I buy stuff 5 pm, it shows up the next morning.
Cefeida

I went “WOOOOOOOW” out loud when I saw this. So helpful!!! Thanks, guys.
Bolt Depot

As several people have pointed out this type chart is incomplete. For the most part it covers only products we currently carry and skips some of those as well (ex. cotter pins). We are working on adding to it as we develop more images.

Those pointing out that Phillips, Frearson, and Posidrive are all separate are quite correct. Unfortunately most people do not know there is a difference so they call/come to the site looking for a Phillips X.

For the people asking there is no completely agreed upon difference between a screw and a bolt. Homeland security does have a set of guidelines for import duties and you could reference the standard being used but in reality the terms “Lag bolt” and “lag screw” are interchangeable terms for the same item. On the other hand there are a few standards with similar names that can confuse people. “Hex had cap screw” and “hex bolt” are often used interchangeably but they are actually slightly different items (though typically used interchangeably).

If anyone has any questions on the subject please feel free to contact our customer service and they will do their best to help you.

And yes we have sent people to McMaster if we know they have something we don’t.
Robert

Shipping screws.
Vanwall

Wrenches for this are hard to come by:

http://www.coolcatcorp.com/faqs/decommutator.html
- irksome
  
  Ah yes, the mounting bracket for a Lucas 3-Position switch; dim, dimmer and off.
  - Vanwall
    
    Mine are always off, off, and dim. Must have the wrong Whitworth wrench held on with swarf.
    - irksome
      
      Dim, dimmer and shorted?
      
      I can remember as a kid hearing a motorcycle mechanic making a joke about “What’s a Whitworth?”, “Not worth a whit” but I forget how it went.
      
      But I am happy to report that my ’98 Triumph has had zero electrical (or for that matter, any other) problems.
      
      British motorcycles have a soul and that’s a FACT.
Anonymous

Are they really sheet metal screws if they’re designed to cut their own threads into a plastic fitting attached to the sheet metal? (as is often seen in car bodies)
foxtails

It needs a section on “Bastardized Screws”, with the new Apple screws as an example.
- Donald Petersen
  
  It needs a section on “Bastardized Screws”, with the new Apple screws as an example.
  
  My edition refers to those as “Goddamnsonofabitchized Screws,” which implies to me that they might be based on the Whitworth specification.
timquinn

Boing Boing comments, proof that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Headbone

The chart doesn’t have a dingus.

Also missing grapple grommets.
- Flashman
  
  Or indeed flibbert flanges, to mesh with your grapple grommets.
  As long as Armbruster hasn’t messed things up.
  
  And no, the Robertson is *not* superior to the Phillips. Maybe for light construction it’s ok, but it strips too easily and doesn’t look so cool and machiney.
  - S2
    
    Wow, you’re stripping Robertsons? Must be some kinda Popeye arms on you. I’m never happier than getting into a “modern” electrical panel filled with Robertsons (aka “square drive”). And for floor- and deck-ing installation, Robertson rules…even my good Senco guns will strip occasionally on a Philips, but never on a Robertson. Yet another reason to give a tip o’ the hat to my Canadian neighbors! (Another item missing from the chart — left-handed feeblevitzers, for those of us old enough to remember ‘em.)
  - Headbone
    
    “And no, the Robertson is *not* superior to the Phillips. Maybe for light construction it’s ok, but it strips too easily and doesn’t look so cool and machiney.”
    
    I can’t believe what I’m hearing. If you have a nice, fresh, new Robertson bit and a brand new screw, you can drive a 3.5″ screw into spruce without predrilling a pilot hole. Can you do that with a Phillips? I can’t.
    
    On another note, assemble a deck putting approximately 1000 2″ screws in. I’m amazed that someone would prefer Philips to Robertson in that circumstance as well.
    
    I agree that even Robertson sucks when someone’s worn the corners off the bit, but I stop there.
    
    Suit yourself, but I’m sticking with Robertson. The only thing better is hex or torx but then the screw cost goes way crazy.
Gilgongo

I worked in a DIY shop for a while and feel somewhat qualified to say that there’s no such thing as a “lag bolt” – it’s a “lag screw”.

Bolts have nuts. That is all.
- Donald Petersen
  
  I don’t mean to be contrary, but I’ve never heard them called “lag screws.” I’m not entirely sure why, since I’m used to bolts utilizing nuts, or at least a machined threaded female hole, like the holes drilled into engine blocks into which one torques cylinder head bolts.
  
  But it might just be because most lag bolts I’ve encountered are substantially larger than most screws. Indeed, I’ve yet to encounter a lag bolt that could be driven with a screwdriver, not only because the torque required would be excessive (due to their size), but also because I’ve never seen lag bolts with either slotted or Phillips heads. They’re usually hex heads or eye heads, in my limited experience with them.
  
  I guess the “can a screwdriver turn it?” question might work for me, since even though the chart above shows machine screws as being usable with nuts or threaded holes, I still always refer to them as “small bolts,” and yet sure enough, they have slotted or Phillips heads. So they’re screws. ‘Cause they can be driven by screwdrivers. Whereas bolts require a wrench or socket.
  
  The fact that the only way to drive an eye lag is with a big screwdriver inserted laterally through the eye is no doubt why it’s called neither “bolt” nor “screw.” ;^)
- Headbone
  
  I have nuts.
  
  “See that cute waitress? I bolted her.”
  
  Hmm, doesn’t work.
Gilgongo

I should also add that I was told the word “lag” means that the item (be it a bold, screw, or anything else) protrudes, or is “proud” once it’s deployed. Normal screws do not “lag” since they are screwed down on deployment, but a lag screw lags.

The citation I give for this is a Mr Frank Hill, of Repton, Derbyshire, workshops teacher and erstwhile owner of a DIY shop circa 1985.
Cowicide

what’s that dingus called?

Sarah Palin?
JoshP

Under my father’s tutelage I learned that carpentry consists of glue + coarse thread drywall screws. Ad nauseum.
But having seen the interior of some of our finer professionally built houses of incarceration there is truly an awesome variety of the fastening art… check the wiki link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives
cabbotage

I was stoked to come across the Bolt Science website while doing some research the other day. The site goes into ridiculous detail on things like the physics of bolt tensioning patterns, history of thread patterns and scientific looks at the difference between tightening bolt heads vs. nuts.

http://www.boltscience.com/pages/info.htm
zorlac

I think we can all agree that the Robertson head screw is far superior to the Phillips head.
- Jim O’Connell
  
  “I think we can all agree that the Robertson head screw is far superior to the Phillips head.”
  
  No.
  Go back to Canada, hippieâ€¦
  
  (J/K)