Purchasing hardware assortment - what sizes

[wardenclyffe]

I am building out an assortment of connectors to have in my garage. I was wondering what everyone would recommend for SAE and Metric hardware to have on hand?
Currently thinking 1/4-20 and 3/8-16, but beyond that I am not sure what other thread sizes to get and what range of lengths to get.
Appreciate any recommendations you guys have.

 

[The Cobbler]

depends on what you work on probably.
I have a lot of fasteners that have been scavenged from parts & pcs that are destined for trash. it amazes me how often I dig into that.
I

 

[MOS3522]

Buy a couple of bolt/nut assortments on Amazon.

Amazon.com : bolt nut assortment

 

[RTM]

Some others' thoughts

Stainless Hardware Assortment Kit

Looking to buy a multi piece Metric & SAE kit that includes hex nuts, washers, hex bolts. Anyone specific you guys could recommend. Would prefer stainless, thank you

www.garagejournal.com

Hardware assortment boxes

Looking to get some nut/bolt/washer assortments for the shop so I don't have to run to the hardware store every time I need something. Primarily do automotive work in the shop, so i know there are definitely some specialty items I won't be able to stock. But I'd like to at least keep some...

www.garagejournal.com

can you guys recommend a hardware assortment for automotive repair?

I'm looking to have a METRIC grade 8.8 or higher set of metric nut (regular and flange nuts) and screws (with hex caps) to build up an inventory for automotive projects. Some sort of assortment set would be nice.. Also, would like to get an assortment set of stainless hose clamps as well. I've...

www.garagejournal.com

Many different threads with Hardware Assortment in the title if you search

 

[Walkers]

depends on what you work on probably.
I have a lot of fasteners that have been scavenged from parts & pcs that are destined for trash. it amazes me how often I dig into that.
I

My stuff that is destined for the scrap bin is in a couple of coffee cans. I am continually dumping them out on the bench to hunt for something oddball.

 

[Pinemarten]

My stuff that is destined for the scrap bin is in a couple of coffee cans. I am continually dumping them out on the bench to hunt for something oddball.

I second the coffee can "system". I have a few, marked SAE or Metric to save time/aggravation. As far as buying fasteners goes, whatever you purchase, Murphy's law will kick in and the size you need won't be there. That is when I call my friend down the street.

 

[MongoTA]

I am building out an assortment of connectors to have in my garage. I was wondering what everyone would recommend for SAE and Metric hardware to have on hand?
Currently thinking 1/4-20 and 3/8-16, but beyond that I am not sure what other thread sizes to get and what range of lengths to get.
Appreciate any recommendations you guys have.

Check out auctions as well. I picked up quite the collection at auction, they are hit or miss regarding hardware. But when you find a good lot? This is from a machine shop that was closing.

All this (and more) for less than $300...I use a lot of it, but there's a lot I'll never use! I think it was harder to finish labeling the bin drawers than it was to move it all in place.



Check out auctions.

 

[lardy1]

I nearly always buy more fasteners than a project calls for so I have them on hand when I need them. Box pricing in small town hardware's drops prices significantly. Whenever deals come up on fasteners in the "Hot Deals" section, I usually buy multiples. I live seven miles from the closest hardware and it's a joke. I make up for my investment by saving gas and time when I need a handful of some sort of fastener.

If I was starting from zero I'd just buy boxes of what I considered common for my shop then expand as I need things.

 

[LeeG]

When I started outfitting my shop, I decided that 1/4-20 would be a good ”general” size for most of what I make. As such, I have a very complete selection of fasteners in that size - different grades, lengths, head styles, washer sizes, etc. Other sizes I just have mostly the basics, but I’ll always buy a box of anything I need so I have them available next time.

Here is about 1/3 of my 1/4-20 fasteners



Lee

 

[Armatron]

Something else to consider. I have an older Miata that I tinker with. There is a local guy who buys wrecked miatas and parts them out. I had him save every single nut/bolt/fastener from a similar miata he was breaking down.

That box of random stuff has saved my **** numerous times. I paid around $60 for the box, and it would've cost me $600+ to assemble on my own.

I have a couple of random metric kits from https://boltsandnuts.com/, but like half the time it's not quite the right length or some other ****.

 

[woody 73]

Sigh I would just kill to have a set-up like the #7 post above!

I never had much luck at auctions; but my best luck comes in the form of buying boxes of broken hardware at the rehab stores. Now true a lot of the sizes are things I might never use, but still enough sizes that I do use. Last Month I answered an ad on CL for a small metal cabinet that was filled with tons of nuts and bolts and other items; I had to throw some of it away, (The Man was a hoarder) but for the most part it added to my growing collection.

 

[isb cornbinder]

Get yourself an awesome bolt bin set up for your own shop! https://boltsandnuts.com/ Use Code "diesel10" for 10% off at checkout!

 

[Beemer]

This place is very reasonable but you have to figure it all out:

Bolt Depot - Fastener Shopping Made Easy

www.boltdepot.com

 

[Dig Doug]

I go for the big Ol coffee can, Tupperware bucket, 5 gallon bucket etc…

it’s no fun if you can’t dig for 15/20 minutes to find that 1/4 inch fine thread nut !

lol

start slow come up w/ a system you can adapt / expand over time.

 

[MOS3522]

This place is very reasonable but you have to figure it all out:

Bolt Depot - Fastener Shopping Made Easy

www.boltdepot.com

Love that place and they are more first choice, even before McMaster-Carr.

 

[woody 73]

Funny story I think some of you might enjoy. This last Friday I was running so late for my doctor's appointment because I stopped into a garage sale; I could not resist a small SK toolbox, but I did not even check the contents because I was running so late. Turns out it was all Chinese tools, my fault for not opening it up. But the kicker was the nice men at the sale told me everything outside the garage was for free. Wow I grabbed a few boxes and a jar of hardware and that made up for all the junk in that tiny metal box, so I felt like a win-win situation all around.

Hardware is out there but you got to hunt for it.

 

[cherrybomb]

The guy with the most coffee cans of hardware is the winner,please show your assortment

 

[liliysdad]

I keep 1/4-20, 5/16-18, 3/8-16, and 1/2-13 hardware on had in a pretty comprehensive assortment in each size, with nuts, flat, and lockwashers. Most of this is Grade 2 that I buy in bulk from TSC, although I do try to keep a lesser supply of Grade 5 and 8 in each size. I keep these in Akro bins in an old Blue Streak ignition cabinet. I don't keep much metric on hand, but I do save the odds and ends I come across. Most of what I work on is 60s and 70s American, so not a lot of need.

Any time I part a Ford or Jeep, I keep the hardware. I am a glutton for estate and garage sale hardware, and keep a stack of Durham drawers full of assorted and organized with machine and sheetmetal screws. Any time I need a screw or rivet or three for a project, I buy 50 or 100. I despise not having what I need for a project, especially since the nearest hardware store open after 6PM or on the weekends is 20 minutes away.

 

[cannuck]

Make your storage system as flexible/adaptable/expandable as possible. Over the years I have gone from a few hanging 4 x 7 bins to a lot of same, then the "standard" 72 open bin cabinets and now 2 x 72 plus 5 stations of 4 x 7 (about 30 bins each). Next move (bought the shelving but have not yet found the right bins) is 24" deep shelving with open bins that can have dividers made from sheered aluminum sheet that fit crossways into rectangular (i.e. not stepped or tapered) grooves. I have to seperate UNC Gr5 from UNF Gr8 from 8.8 and 10.9 Metric and UNC Stainless, as well as the myriad of mechanical and electrical things - so there is no end of what you MAY have to store and access.

 

[dutchgray]

I find buying the size and type of fasteners you actually use is the best course of action, no one is really going to be able to stock everything in a home shop environment so some purchasing of odd stuff will always be necessary.

Myself is mostly M6, M8 and M10 hex screw and SHCS, nuts and washers, larger metric M16, M20 bolt sets left over from steel building construction at work (which I keep on hand gor the rare times we come up short on fasteners) plus some UNC, UNF, Whitworth and BSF as most of my machine tools are old, though I tend to buy what I need as I need but just get a few extra and keep them in a box of the given type and diameter.

 

[fourjeepin]

In my mind, you should have as much as you have room for but I have a problem with hardware. I was really tempted to go to an estate sale to look at hardware and bins this weekend despite buying all of the bins (with hardware) from a Home Depot about 20 years ago.

 

[BTL-A4]

I have found over the years that I often have to buy more than I need, so I have extras on hand anyway. For example, I need 5 screws but have to buy 2 packs of 4, so I have 3 left over. I have one of those parts organizer bins that I put everything into. I bought two, 38-drawer ones 20 years ago and they are full. I go thru them once in awhile and get rid of anything I've never used. Of course, I then need what I just threw out! LOL!

I'm 15 minutes from 3 hardware stores, so it's not a big deal to go get something.

 

[RonnieMac]

My Dad was a parts manager (as was I). He kept tobacco cans with all sorts of bits and pieces - Zippo lighters, springs, odd nuts and bolts, brass fittings - that weren't worth organizing in bins. I inherited the tobacco tins and have built on the collection. I am constantly amazed at how I can solve a problem by searching through the tins for a whatsis.

I do a lot of automotive work on British vehicles and keep an organized set of Plano bins with fasteners organized by size and part number.

To return to the tobacco tins. I found this device - called a canning funnel - very useful for reloading the contents of the tins. I dump the contents of a tin into a large bowl, search for what I might need, then use the funnel to easily reload the tin. The funnel works well for peanut butter jars as well.

 

[VolvoRyan]

The best way to waste money and space (unless you're a shop) is to buy fastener assortments. Any assortment worth having costs too much, and anything economical isn't worth having.

Like others, I've slowly accumulated new and old fasteners in coffee cans. Order multiples of "consumable" fasteners when you do a job. Here and there, a box from McMaster of the common stuff. Keep all the old fasteners you pull. It adds up.

I had an unlabeled system of coffee cans for ages. I knew what was in a can based on where it was. Worked well..... until I moved.

-Ryan

 

[Steve_P]

Oh god on storing fasteners in coffee cans This is what my dad did. It'd take you an hour to find a 10-32 nut in one of the "nut" cans. By that time, I could've driven to the hardware store, returned, finished the job, and drank a beer! So, one winter break from college I sorted out all of his hardware into small plastic containers- the round deli containers with the snap on lid. Then it was easy to switch those to the dozens of the plastic HF 8x12"? storage boxes that I currently have.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I bought a couple sets of the blue/red plastic bins from HF.

1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16 & 1/2" in nuts and bolts. Started with Grade 2 but realized Grade 5 & 8 were so much better at TSC.

There's a bottom shelf with other assorted hardware and stainless fasteners elsewhere.

 

[bbrins]

I've been keeping an assortment of grade 5 and 8 SAE hardware on hand in Plano boxes for years, mostly 8-32, 10-24, 1/4-20, 5/16, 3/8, 1/2. I just keep a general assortment in lengths that I feel like I can feasibly use, sometimes cutting down a longer bolt if necessary. I usually just buy SAE from Tractor Supply by the pound.

Only recently have I started to keep any metric stuff on hand. The last couple of years, I have been tinkering with motorscooters, and recently did a motor swap, and started having to buy a good bit of metric hardware. The problem is that metric hardware is stupidly expensive in the local hardware stores, it isnt hard to wind up spending $50 on what I can fit in one hand, so I have been building up an assortment from McMaster Carr, which still isn't cheap, but a lot less expensive overall, and I know it is going to meet the standards that they advertise(vs. ebay, amazon, etc.). On hand, I keep M4, M5-0.8, M6-1.0, M8-1.25, and M10-1.25, plus some miscellaneous stuff that is smaller, larger, and/or different thread pitch. I also make it a point now to save good used metric hardware from anything that I am disposing of.

I use the waterproof Plano 3700 size boxes, in standard and deep configuration. I mostly use the waterproof ones because I like the latches better.