T Nuts

[Tom O'Shea]

I saw the other day where even Leland was spinning tee nuts on his OT 15 build.

I've switched tee nut suppliers from PE to McFeely's. www.mcfeeleys.com

McFeely's. Heh-heh. Great name. Heh-heh.

They sell some pretty tough tee nuts, with four big-ass spikes instead of six dinky ones. They're made of stouter steel than the PE tee nuts, too.

You CAN still spin them--at least I can--but it's harder. On my current build I'm using 32 tee nuts in two cabs, and I've only spun one. With the PEs, I might have had problems with four, or even six.

But they cost more, and their only thread guage in #10 screw size is 24 TPI. Still, they've reduced cussing time by at least a little bit per cab.

McFeely's also sells pretty good screws. Heh-heh. He said Screws.

Tom O'Shea

[Tim A]

Use a fender washer on a screw and draw the T-nut in, don't tap it. That assures perfect thread allignement when you are ready to put the screw in.

Also, once I get it started I put a dab of poly glue, like Gorilla or the Elmers verion on the shank. It won't come out or spin.

[Art Coates]

Use a fender washer on a screw and draw the T-nut in, don't tap it. That assures perfect thread allignement when you are ready to put the screw in.

Also, once I get it started I put a dab of poly glue, like Gorilla or the Elmers verion on the shank. It won't come out or spin.

+1

[Harley]

Use a fender washer on a screw and draw the T-nut in, don't tap it. That assures perfect thread allignement when you are ready to put the screw in.

Also, once I get it started I put a dab of poly glue, like Gorilla or the Elmers verion on the shank. It won't come out or spin.

+1

I even have a cut off allen key that I use in my battery drill ( slow speed ) which saves a huge amount of time - real important that glue dab!

I assume by a fender washer you mean what we call a penny washer- obout 1/4" ID and 1-1/2" OD

Harley

[mk_drums]

penny washers hey
i wonder if they call them that across the pond here
i needed some fender washers when i was building a drum kit last year and no one knew what they were. the specialist fastener shop even said no we dont have anything like that
i sadly had to end up buying some from the US

[Christian]

I even have a cut off allen key that I use in my battery drill ( slow speed ) which saves a huge amount of time - real important that glue dab!

I did the exact same thing! In my humble opinion, that is an excellent tip! I hate manually driving anything (other than the GF... )

You can even buy allen bit extensions so you can drive the hex head from a distance. This is mandatory for the tighter cabinets; like a T-30. My old drills aren't streamlined enough to reach the screws But with a home-made driver, everything is peachy!

But yeah, like Tim said, you have to PULL the T-nut in, not hammer it.

We're talking speakers, right...?

[Harley]

You can even buy allen bit extensions so you can drive the hex head from a distance. ..?

I thought of those bits but they wear out real quick and are damned expensive here. An Allen key costs very little - I buy the long ones and cut about 3 bits out of it with the small grinder ( hacksaw is useless )

One little bit does about 75 teen nuts.

Harley

[Harley]

i needed some fender washers when i was building a drum kit last year and no one knew what they were....

Bet you if you'd gone to one of your traditional hardware stores and asked for a penny washer - they'd have known what you were talking about.

I did some installations of a/c filtering equipment in Oz many moons ago and we obtained penny washers from the local h/ware ( in Sydney )

Harley

[LelandCrooks]

This is the first time I've had a nut spin since I switched to hurricane nuts from regular tee nuts. I always put a dab of PL on the them, and pull them in just like you all described. I've also switched to hex cap screws, and you get lots more torque than with a phillips screw. I don't have the "feel" for how hard to pull them yet. From now on they get a shot of 5 min epoxy. I also keep a tap handy and hit every one after insertion. with a little practice you can run it in the drill. SLOWLY.

An Allen key costs very little - I buy the long ones and cut about 3 bits out of it with the small grinder ( hacksaw is useless )

I did the exact same thing

Great minds think alike. Hacksaws just polish the shank. Die grinders make pretty short work of it.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

I find the biggest problem is driving the bolts with a drill, if things are AFU it will strip the nut before you're aware of a problem. I drive the bolts by hand only, and if they feel the least bit hinkey I chase the both the bolt and nut threads.

[Tim A]

I find the biggest problem is driving the bolts with a drill, if things are AFU it will strip the nut before you're aware of a problem. I drive the bolts by hand only, and if they feel the least bit hinkey I chase the both the bolt and nut threads.

I agree. A happy medium is a screw gun with the torque setting on 1 or 2. If it cross threads it'll slip the clutch almost immediately but runs the bolt in fast on a clean thread. Finish up with a hand tool or crank the clutch down.

[Harley]

I find the biggest problem is driving the bolts with a drill, if things are AFU it will strip the nut before you're aware of a problem. .

True, but I hand spin the nut up a couple of threads beforehand and you know if you have cross threaded by then. I use a M5 x45mm HT Allen headed screw.

Harley