Tool question- sizing fasteners

[reversegear]

Does anyone know of a tool/gauge for quickly finding the size of a fastener? Like when you are working on a machine or vehicle you are not familiar with, and aren't even sure if it is metric or inch?

Or can everyone here eyeball the size on the first try, and I'm the only one that walks to the toolbox 500 times grabbing different wrenches to try?

 

[alex71]

I've gotten to the point where I can ID SAE fasteners by eye... thread pitches memorized also... so if I grab a wrench and it doesn't fit, must be metric

 

[Merkava_4]

I use a SCREW CHECK'R for small screws:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=775

 

[autoace]

I can pretty much eye the right size, rarely wrong, but I have alot of practice.

 

[zuspiel]

SAE still trips me up. How can anybody think in these fractional sizes?

A tool cart close by is my life (or feet) saver...

For loose bolts, the nicest gauge I've seen is the Fastenal one (link). It's made of thick plastic and the nut gauges have stops to easily tell coarse from fine thread w/o looking into the nut.

 

[nissan_crawler]

thread pitch gauge + caliper

 

[Tool Pants]

I have these sets. Black is metric and silver is inch.

 

[mkdive]

I have these sets. Black is metric and silver is inch.

who makes those?

 

[Danglerb]

I was thinking about a tattoo on my arm with various sizes.

 

[r0meyrome]

Dude... I was thinking the same thing because 2 weeks ago my professor at school brought out this big ruler for the fastener in metric and standard sizing. Holes for the diameter, raised edges for the nuts, ruler for the length, etc. I just emailed him about it Ill let you know if I find anything out.

 

[KenB]

You should also check out this thread : http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31781


Ken

 

[Stuey]

I have these sets. Black is metric and silver is inch.

That looks a lot better than those stud and socket plates!

 

[alex71]

don't buy it on ebay. that is a huge ripoff. metric only for $50 plus $18 shipping.

here's both metric and SAE for $27!

http://www.thread-check-tool.com/page2.html

 

[bchee]

I was reading a description of those and it states: "The individual gauges rotate freely on the wire cable for fast thread verification."
It doesn't look like they rotate in the way that would be useful, ie screwing it onto the bolt.

I have these sets. Black is metric and silver is inch.

 

[Tool Pants]

Another "thread."

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25619&highlight=thread

I did get it from here. I have the 21 piece metric and 21 piece inch.

http://www.thread-check-tool.com/page3.html

I think the 26 piece combination set for $26.99 is a better value for the typical user.

 

[jniolon]

these are the ones I have in std and metric... sits on top of bolt bins and I can check size/thread with one hand and find what I'm looking for quickly...

later
John

 

[Elroy]

thread pitch gauge + caliper

In partical terms that is the ONLY way.

Those little "screw on" things **** when the first thread is damaged. In addition they can't identify a stretched fastener with damage up near the shank.

 

[FNFS2000]

SAE still trips me up. How can anybody think in these fractional sizes?

Ditto, why in the world do we still not use metric?

 

[alex71]

Its just a matter of what you're used to.. I've been doing the fraction thing for too many decades. I can look at an assembly and know which fastener I need (in SAE size, of course) or look at a fastener and know what size it is. all the thread pitches are in my memory too... probably the same as you in mm

 

[r0meyrome]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39240

 

[Tool Pants]

Here is a time line and a page from a Craftsman tool catalog.

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/dates.htm

When I first started playing with cars and motorcycles 100 years ago I knew the inch sizes. But that was short-lived as I converted to foreign vehicles.

Until recently I had very few inch sized tools. But tons of metrics. Recently I have been buying inch sized stuff at the flea market. I carry around a cheat sheet because I can't remember what is the next size up or down from something like a 5/8" socket.