Can anyone tell me if I need a specific weld nut thickness to attach to 2mm thick carbon steel plate? I see a bunch of weld nuts on Amazon and want to be sure to select one that doesn’t cause issues welding to the plate because of the differences in thickness.
Weld nuts
- Thread starter Rick D
- Start date
Your going to have to be a lot more specific if you want an answer that is just more than someone's opinion. There are hundreds of items that are considered weld nuts and a lot of them have a specific machine or technique to install them. Application matters also. Give us a link to a weld nut you have in mind and the forces being applied. For good strength in a nut 4 threads are considered minimum so the intended fastener you intend to use also has to be considered.
lg
lg
Unless you have special tooling that usually goes with a specific type of weld nut there is no practical reason to buy weld nuts.
A lot of the time a riv-nut will be just as effective.
LeeG
Well-known member
I've not seen much different in sizes of weld nuts for a given thread. Adjust the setting on your welder to the thinner metal and weld away.
Thanks all. To what LeeG said, all the weld nuts I’ve seen are pretty thick but my plate is only 2mm thick. So my concern was that I would have a difficult time joining the two different gauges with good penetration while not blowing through the 2mm material.
I’d prefer to go with rivnuts but I was told they aren’t a great option where structural integrity is concerned…which is the case in my application.
I’d prefer to go with rivnuts but I was told they aren’t a great option where structural integrity is concerned…which is the case in my application.
I should have probably lead with this but to clarify what I’m trying to do, is to weld a 2mm plate on top a chassis for a lotus esprit above the shift opening. 12 Weld nuts are attached to the plates underside which allows me to bolt another plate on top of that with a much smaller opening. This is a fix needed to fix cracks in the Esprit chassis that are caused when the body flexes too much. See pics
Attachments
The nuts that you weld on only need a weld strong enough to prevent the nut from turning while the screw is tightened. A full weld is not needed in this application. I'm assuming here that that you have arc welding capabilities and not TIG capabilities? Have you considered making nut plates for the project?
lg
lg
The issue with rivet nuts and cage nuts is they leave a portion of the nut proud of the hole they will sit in. Therefore the plate that sits on top will only contact the plate below it at those points. I’m not sure that matters…I’d have to put it in front of a structural engineer. But the later Lotus Esprit cars utilized nuts welded to the underside of the chassis so when the plate was laid on top, that plate’s face sat flush and then got bolted down. I would think this would provide some additional torsional rigidity than if the plate only made contact with proud portion of the rivet/cage nut. There’s a welder in town I’ll drop by and get his opinion on. Thanks
a heavier plate that was drilled & tapped on the underside , with bolts running thru your top plate into the lower plate?
as suggested , rivetnuts installed, the top plate drilled out so it slips over the rivetnuts , allowing it to lay flat on the base metal. larger washers to span the larger holes.
or simple nuts & bolts with washers?
and drill holes at the ends of the cracks to help stop them from creeping
as suggested , rivetnuts installed, the top plate drilled out so it slips over the rivetnuts , allowing it to lay flat on the base metal. larger washers to span the larger holes.
or simple nuts & bolts with washers?
and drill holes at the ends of the cracks to help stop them from creeping
If I'm reading right you aren't going to do the welding yourself, correct? In that case I would take this to the welding shop and let them help make the decision.
If it were me I think I would use TIG and 10-32 or 1/4-28 circular base weld nuts. The base on round will nuts is typically thinner than the rectangular.
If you're actually trying to avoid welding, then Cobbler has a great suggestion. Use Rivnuts and then drill out the top plate slightly larger than the diameter of the rivnut and put some washers on it.
If it were me I think I would use TIG and 10-32 or 1/4-28 circular base weld nuts. The base on round will nuts is typically thinner than the rectangular.
If you're actually trying to avoid welding, then Cobbler has a great suggestion. Use Rivnuts and then drill out the top plate slightly larger than the diameter of the rivnut and put some washers on it.
