Fasteners

Fasteners & hardware may not be as appealing as the latest contemporary homes or luxury SUVs, but without them those houses would be just a pile of wood and masonry and those vehicles nothing more than a jumble of metal, rubber and plastic. Fasteners are indispensable for joining together a myriad of products and materials in construction and manufacturing and new ones are often required when performing repairs and custom work. When you shop with us, you’ll be able to take on any job where fasteners are needed because our digital shelves are packed with a huge selection of the most popular types like screws, nails, and bolts & nuts, as well as less common varieties such as roll pins, ear clamps, and quarter-turn fasteners. We can supply you with whatever sizes and quantities you need of individual fasteners, plus we offer comprehensive fastener assortments.

Nails may be the oldest type of fastener; the first ones were hand-made in bronze approximately 5000 years ago. We have modern nails for all your building needs including framing nails, roofing nails, and finishing, brad, and casing nails for installing moldings and other finishing jobs, in boxed quantities and in collated packs for loading into nail guns. Screws are another fastener with ancient origins and over the years many screw head designs have been developed, from the basic slotted and Phillips varieties, to square drive, hex, Torx, socket head, and more, in flat-head, pan-head, oval-head and other designs. Of course, the variety of screws on offer doesn’t end with the drive type and shape of the head. We have wood screws, sheet metal screws, machine screws and drywall screws; stainless steel screws and screws with zinc plating or black oxide coating; self-tapping and self-drilling screws; and many specialized screws for automotive use including screws with integral washers and chrome plated screws.

Hex bolts have a hexagonal head and a threaded shaft for installation in a tapped hole or in a threaded nut. Technically, a bolt that is intended for installation in a threaded hole is called a hex cap screw and usually features a flat washer facing under the head where it will turn against the material surface when tightened. We offer hex bolts in steel that is galvanized or zinc plated to resist corrosion, stainless steel, and even chrome moly. Some bolts are chromed or have a black oxide coating for appearance. Our bolts come in many standard and metric sizes and lengths, in SAE coarse and fine thread, and metric thread in various thread pitches, and in several grades with grade 5 and grade 8 the most common. Although they are included in the hex bolt category, we also offer bolts with 12-point heads and hex socket heads. In addition to standard hex bolts, we also offer many bolts for replacement and custom automotive applications.

Our bolt selection is extensive, and we can supply you with much more than hex bolts. Carriage bolts have a smooth domed head with a square neck that fits into a recess in metal or wood. The square section keeps the bolt from turning while the nut that secures it is tightened. Carriage bolts were originally used to attach metal plates to wood, but they are also commonly used on bare wood. They are also used when installing locks and hinges for security purposes, to prevent removal from the exposed side, and they were also widely used for chrome bumper attachment, to provide a smooth attractive appearance. Lag bolts, also known as lag screws, are used for joining lumber in heavy load bearing applications.

Eye bolts are threaded at one end and have a ring at the other. They are threaded into wood or steel or secured in non-threaded holes with a nut for lifting purposes. Rope or cable is attached to the ring. There are several eye bolt designs and they can be made of different materials including stainless steel, alloy steel, and galvanized steel. The correct eye bolt for the lifting apparatus and weight being lifted must be chosen to ensure safety. The unique shape of U-bolts enables these fasteners to provide secure attachment and support. They are used in construction to attach pipes and other components to beams and walls and they are the traditional method for attaching axles to leaf springs on cars, trucks and trailers.

Threaded nuts are attached to threaded bolts or studs to secure components. The hex nut is the most common type of nut and like hex bolts, they can be made of steel that is galvanized or zinc plated to resist corrosion, and stainless steel, and some are chromed or have a black oxide coating for appearance. They’re available with standard SAE coarse and fine thread, and metric thread in various thread pitches, and in a range of strength grades. Variations on the standard hex nut include lock nuts, flange nuts, slotted nuts and acorn nuts. There are several ways to keep a nut from loosening once installed. Nylon locking nuts, commonly called nylocks, have a nylon collar insert in the threads to lock the nut in place. Prevailing torque lock nuts feature distorted threads at the cone-shaped top of the nut for locking, while centerlock nuts are distorted in the middle and can therefore be installed from either end. Serrated flange nuts have serrations where the nut contacts the part surface to keep the nut from turning once installed, and Keps K locknuts have an integral free turning serrated washer which works in the same manner.

The flange on a smooth flanged nut functions as a washer to distribute the clamping force; the slots in slotted nuts, also called castle nuts, allow a cotter pin to be inserted through a hole in a threaded shaft to prevent loosening and these are commonly used on axle shafts and ball joints. Acorn nuts, also known as dome nuts, are blind nuts that are installed to protect the bolt or stud threads or for decorative purposes. Wing nuts are used where hand-tightening is sufficient and frequent removal and installation is necessary, and coupling nuts are typically used to join sections of threaded rod. Whereas the previous nuts are turned by hand or with a tool, there are also nuts that are permanently or semi-permanently installed to provide a captive attachment point. Weld nuts are welded in place; the barrel on a T-nut fits into a hole drilled in wood, then the bolt is threaded in from the other side, drawing the prongs on the T-nut into the wood and locking it in place. Cage nuts are enclosed in a steel cage with wings at each edge that compress and secure the cage nut in a square opening. They are frequently used in electronic equipment.

Flat washers protect the surface of the component and spread the load, and they can also serve as spacers. Lock washers prevent unwanted fastener movement after tightening. A lock washer should be installed against the bolt head when the bolt screws into the part but installed against the nut instead when bolt and nut securement is used. There are several types of lock washers. Belleville, spring, wave, and split washers lock by exerting pressure as they are flattened during tightening. Serrated and tooth lock washers lock by digging into the component surface during tightening. There are also many styles of finishing washers which are used for aesthetic appeal.

Studs are fasteners that are threaded at each end. Instead of attaching a part with a bolt that screws into another component, a stud is threaded into the component and the part is secured with a nut at the other end of the stud. This method of attachment has several advantages, which is why it is regularly used in high-performance and racing engine blocks for mounting components like cylinder heads and main bearing caps. Studs don’t twist when the nut is torqued, as bolts do, so torque is more accurate. The stationary studs also only stretch in one axis, for better clamping. Racing engines are frequently torn down and rebuilt, and when there are no bolts that must be repeatedly removed and installed, the threads in the block will last longer. Of course, studs are used in many more applications: on hubs to mount wheels, on exhaust manifolds to attach exhaust pipes, and to mount rocker arms on cylinder heads, are just a few examples.

Rivets provide a strong, lightweight, inexpensive and very durable method of attachment. They’re ideal for use on applications where a more permanent method of attachment is desired and when there is no access to the back of the part. Rivets are commonly used in construction, manufacturing and auto repair, and you’ll find them in such diverse applications as gutter and downspout construction and aircraft manufacturing. Blind rivets are the most common type of rivet and consist of the rivet body and a mandrel. The body is placed in a hole in the components to be joined, then a rivet gun is used to pull the mandrel into the body, expanding the body and forming an enlarged surface around the hole that locks the parts together. When the rivet is formed the mandrel snaps off, making a popping noise, which is why blind rivets are also known as pop rivets. Rivets can be made of steel, aluminum, stainless steel, copper, copper/bronze, and plastic, and they’re available with domed open ends, closed ends, countersunk, and with large flanges. Rivet nuts are similar to blind rivets in that access to the other side of the material to which the rivet will be installed is not required. They are used when a threaded hole for part attachment is needed.

Wall anchors are used to ensure the wall can bear the load of what is being attached to the wall, and they are used in applications where an ordinary fastener would most likely pull out and fail. They work by expanding behind the wall surface and we offer expansion anchors that are designed to expand into material like concrete or masonry and hollow wall anchors, toggle bolts, threaded drywall anchors, and plastic hollow wall plugs that are intended for expanding into open space. The typical need for wall anchor installation is when something must be attached to drywall where there is no stud behind the wall. Here on our digital shelves you’ll also find staples for every application, from the familiar steel staples that are used in homes and offices everywhere, to crown staples for securing low voltage wire, to insulated staples that are ideal for attaching sensitive communication wires, to heavy-duty staples for attaching house wrap, roof paper, and insulation.

Pins are another method to secure attachment, and you’ll find varieties for many applications here on our virtual shelves. Cotter pins are one-time use fasteners that are often used to secure other fasteners like castle nuts, and we offer cotter pins in many sizes and assortments. There are reusable hairpin clips that are installed on grooved shafts and some that have straight sides for installation in a hole in the shaft. They come in many sizes: small ones were commonly used to secure carburetor linkage and large ones serve as hitch pins. Roll pins, also called spring pins, locate and secure components with a typical application being a gear on a shaft. The roll pin is made larger than the hole it’s used in, with a split seam the length of the pin, which allows it to compress as it’s installed, creating pressure to stay in place. Dowel pins are typically used to align parts with one another. Shear pins are a type of dowel pin but made of softer material to break in instances of extreme force to protect other parts, such as the shear pin on a snowblower shaft and auger. Lynch pins have been used for everything from securing wheels on axles to keeping lightweight automobile hoods in place.

Retaining rings are frequently used to secure components on shafts or within a bore. E-clips are typically used on shafts with external machined grooves, while circlips and snap rings are for installation in internal grooves. Here you’ll find E-clips, circlips and snap rings in many sizes, including assortments that contain quantities of all popular sizes. With our extensive collection of clamps, you’ll be able to secure coolant and fuel hose, and route and secure hoses and wiring. We also offer a large assortment of specialty fasteners including turnbuckles, quarter-turn fasteners, and many that are used in the automotive industry for securing windshield trim, headlights, and more. And no matter whether you’ve stripped the threads in a spark plug port, exhaust manifold, or any other threaded hole, with our thread broad selection of thread repair inserts you’ll be able to restore functionality to like new and preserve valuable components.