ME Nuts Bolts Suppliers

I have a need for ME Nuts & Bolts.

Can anyone tell me a good source please?

I know JasonB usually recommends EKP, their website is down for the holiday so I cannot try them.

Is there anyone else, specifically I need the 40 tpi sizes?

Thank you,

Jerry

You could ring E C Pitcher to ask, a link to their website for contact details:-

**LINK**

Edited By V8Eng on 31/12/2014 09:48:53

Very few suppliers do fixings with ME threads, EKP only have a limited range if anything. Its going to be a case of getting some hex stock and making your own.

Any special reason you want ME over the usual BA or metric?

J

Edited By JasonB on 31/12/2014 10:28:04

Jason,

I had a feeling that EKP probably would not have ME sizes, but obviously I cannot ask them until they return. I am looking for constant pitch finest thread across a sizes from I/8" to 7/32" which seems to be only available in ME 40 tpi. They are to provide adjustment on coupling rods which vary in size.

It seems strange that they are so difficult to find yet are constantly listed in the various ME handbooks even in the (current ?) 2003 edition 3.

I am less worried about bolts, more about nuts. I may have to consult 'Jo's' treatise on making studs etc and use Metric fine. I have the gear to make those..

Thank goodness I enjoy reading.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Jerry

You could look at 1/8" whitworth for the smaller size as that is 40tpi

The reason they are in the ME handbooks is because they are used for steam fittings, glands etc

I to would have suggested EKP and depending on sizes etc Polly Models, as for E.C.Pitcher who are 2 mins from me are closed at the moment and would say it will be Monday before Simon opens ! Pitcher's do not do ME fasteners but do carry BSW and BSF sizes.

H

EKP do not list any ME threaded fasteners in their printed catalogue. However they supply a good range of both steel and brass hex. stock. So do what I have done for years - make your own as it is an easy and satisfying job. I just use a tailstock die holder and a similar tap holder. One big advantage is that you can make the bolts or sets just the right length for the job.

The reason ME fasteners are not available from stockists is simply lack of demand. For the same reason you will find BSW and BSF fasteners are getting harder to find and becoming more and more expensive compared with generally similar sized metric fasteners that are probably made in the tens of millions each day throughout the world.

Thanks to everybody for the commentary and ideas.

Whit and BA sizes are (for now) freely available, but certainly in the case of BA it seems a case of 'whilst stocks last'.

Since obsolescence, planned or otherwise is a pet hate I have decided to adopt 2mm as the smaller size as fine (0.25 mm pitch) for which I have now been able to order thin and full nuts for delivery in the New Year.

The other size I shall need is ~4mm and I can turn the threads on the shafts to 0.25mm pitch, and with a little(?) ingenuity make nuts to fit(?), so it's out with the Cowells.

I look back in time and often marvel at what our forefathers could achieve by hand.

Jerry

Thats quite a bit finer than your original 40tpi, at 102tpi or there abouts

Jason,

Yes according to my HP calculator (RPN) it comes out at 101.16, what an odd number, no accounting for the eccentricities which occur following the adoption of a (supposed) fraction of the Earth's dimensions! You can see why the size of the King's thumb was just as sensible.

I'm not too worried, Its more to get the same movement at each end of the shafts. Of course too worried is an unknown, and subject to actually doing it. I shall start with the 4mm nut as that might be the most difficult to do.

Should that not be successful I'll think again, perhaps go to the normal coarse thread of 0.40mm thread. 63.5tpi.

Jerry

ME threads aren't intended for fasteners in the sense of screws, nuts and bolts as for these items the thread should vary in rough proportion to the diameter.

The ME threads (which are really Whitworth 'special diameters' are meant for cases when either threads of different size but matched pitch are needed (unusual) or for making small fittings and parts with either thin-walls or relatively short spigots that need close or shallow threads (e.g. boiler fittings).

Neil

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Isn't it time we killed-off those stupid "auto correction" Smileys

MichaelG.