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Best Wall Mounted Nut & Bolt Thread Checker

1190R

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Jul 31, 2014
Messages
252
I already have the checkers that are wired on a cable
These are great because they are portable
But for quickly sorting nuts and bolts I prefer the wall mounted models you find at most hardware stores
There are several out there
Wondering if someone has taken the time to check them all out to see which is most complete and easiest to use
 
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MileHighRover

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Mar 13, 2018
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That one is basically the one Ace Hardware has in their bolt isle. I've always loved that one.
 

PoorUB

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Mar 29, 2021
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Fargo, ND
Can't eye ball them?

For the most part, I can just look at common bolt and nuts and know the size. I assumed most shop guys could.
 

goldtang

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Feb 11, 2012
Messages
471
Location
Western Australia
If I can’t eye ball them I use a vernier, thread gauges , and thread chart. I Have a couple of small books and the machinery’s hand book
a Known bolt can be used to check a nut
 

mmb617

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Dec 5, 2010
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Location
PA
Can't eye ball them?

For the most part, I can just look at common bolt and nuts and know the size. I assumed most shop guys could.
That works when you only have standard SAE sizes but these days there are likely to be metric sizes mixed in and some of them are too close to SAE ones to sort by eyeball. At least for me.
 
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PoorUB

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Fargo, ND
That works when you only have standard SAE sizes but these days there are likely to be metric sizes mixed in and some of them are too close to SAE ones to sort by eyeball. At least for me.
Most bolts have head markings, SAE or metric, so that helps. Then most standard sized bolts have only two threads pitches helps too.
 

niget2002

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Oct 2, 2012
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11,123
Location
Josephine, TX
Can't eye ball them?

For the most part, I can just look at common bolt and nuts and know the size. I assumed most shop guys could.
No. I can't eyeball them. I **** horribly at eyeballing any size/distance/measurement less than about a foot.

I'm also not good at looking at the end of a bolt and figuring out what size wrench I need. It's just not a skill I've managed to acquire.
 

LeeG

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Nov 29, 2012
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1,525
Location
Phoenix, AZ
No. I can't eyeball them. I **** horribly at eyeballing any size/distance/measurement less than about a foot.

I'm also not good at looking at the end of a bolt and figuring out what size wrench I need. It's just not a skill I've managed to acquire.
It is mostly acquired by practice. AVE made a good suggestion on one of his videos to allow us no-professionals to improve our skills. Take an assortment to work and keep them in a box on your desk. A few times a day, pull them out and figure out which are which. After a while, you get much better at eyeballing.

Lee
 

pooterguy

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Jun 12, 2013
Messages
92
Location
USA on the road
Since I am not equipped with calibrated eyeballs, I use the same checkers that commonly reside in the Ace fasteners aisle. Bought them as a bundle on feeBay several years ago for $40. Local Ace dealer wanted $100 for just the yellow one. They pay me back that $40 in non-aggravation at least once a week, especially when fumbling to identify whether some obscure unmarked chinesium potmetal fastener is metric or fractional.
 

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bb29510

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Dec 27, 2022
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mine is yellow, i bought one because i have a lot of metric bolts and well i wanted one, I got mine from amazon. I think it was around $70
 

Garcky

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Sep 10, 2022
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3,434
Location
Twin Cities Metro Area, Minnesota
In my Dad's auto repair shop, he had a Dorman fastener cabinet, like the ones at the parts house. His strategy was never to spend time looking for a fastener. Time wasted was money lost. If it wasn't right there with the parts it went with, he grabbed a new one. Then, during the Sunday afternoon shop cleaning session, all loose fasteners on surfaces went into a 15-gallon barrel. About once a year, the scrap metal guy would haul it all away.

So, when I moved away after getting out of my enlistment in the USAF, I asked him if I could have a bunch of the miscellaneous hardware in the barrel. He just shrugged and said, "Sure!" So, I filled up a 5-gallon bucket with random nuts, bolts, washers and other stuff and hauled to my new place.

Over time, I actually sorted through that bucket and classified and stored every last piece according to size and thread pitch. I just kept all of the bolts and machine screws of the same diameter in one container, to cut down on storage requirements. Back then, (mid 60s) there was still a mix of SAE coarse and fine thread stuff, but virtually no metric stuff at all. For many years, that 5-gallon bucket had pretty much everything I needed in it, and sorting it all made it easy to find.
 

CraigStu

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May 22, 2014
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4,014
Location
Blacksburg, Va
.,... They pay me back that $40 in non-aggravation at least once a week, especially when fumbling to identify whether some obscure unmarked chinesium potmetal fastener is metric or fractional.
I ran into that problem just a week ago. It was a phillips head set screw to lock a grip handle onto a shaft. 5/16sae or 8mm??? Fortunately I had one of each to match it to. But a few months ago I ended up needing a 3mm x ?? and had to take a small assembly to ACE w/ me so I could test metric (I guessed) machine screws.
 

Rt jam

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Joined
Apr 4, 2015
Messages
228
Best for the $$ is just how cheap are you going to go for sub par quality. Lots of choices on Ebay and Amazon. I have bought the string style with metric and imperial. Fine for home use but the best I've ever seen and used is by MSC.

Here you go. https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/43595925

Looking by eye. Ok I also know 5/16-24 and 3/8-16 but to know by eye the difference between imperial and metric and all the different pitches. :rolleyes:
 

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