Thanks Thanks:  0
Likes Likes:  0
Needs Pictures Needs Pictures:  0
Picture(s) thanks Picture(s) thanks:  0
Results 1 to 6 of 6
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Lost in Space
    Age
    53
    Posts
    331

    Default Nut Problems .......... Ouch! ;-)

    Gidday heres afew crackers I've recently come across some very handy workarounds that can be useful in a FAb Shop

    1. Cutting a nut off a bolt without wrecking the thread

    You can't burn the threads on the bolt unless you get them red hot.

    Place the\bolt and nut in a horizontal position. Using a small cutting tip, hold the tip parallel to the bolt. (See Fig 1)

    Start on one of the points and burn through the nut, cutting parallel to the bolt until you get near the bottom.

    Then, tilt the end of the cutting tip downward and move rapidly through the slot with your stream of oxygen, washing the threads of the nut out of the threads of the bolt. (See Fig2)

    2. Expanding a Nut

    To make a nut that is too tight, loose enough to turn with your fingers, do this:

    Screw the nut on a bolt. Lay the nut on an anvil and, with a very small ballpeen hammer, peen the flat sides very, very lightly with the ball end.

    Be extremely careful not to hit it hard enough to make a dent in the flat side of the nut.

    You can hit it fast, but not hard. Raise the hammer not more than two inches above the nut. If necessary, you may peen all sides that way.

    3. How To Shrink A Nut

    When the nut is too loose, do this: With the nut on the bolt, place the nut in a vis'e flat side up. Grip the two points of the nut in the jaws of the vise very lightly.

    Then heat the flat side on top red hot. When it turns black, chill it in water and check it for fit. If necessary, you can heat all six sides this way, one at a time.

    REgards Lou
    Just Do The Best You Can With What You HAve At The Time

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    sydney ( st marys )
    Age
    64
    Posts
    4,887

    Default

    In regards to your 2nd tip ,iv'e used this method numerous times with small and large nuts up to 12" dia ,just wondering what the benifit is of useing the ball end over the convex face ?.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Lost in Space
    Age
    53
    Posts
    331

    Default

    Gidday Pipeclay

    Were taught at trade school that the ball peen hammer is the metalworkers hammer of choice. All the 16 tradies in our workshop use them religiously particularly for 'peening' and 'shaping' tasks in the workshop........

    For me the ball side of the hammer offers more control and precision in regards to where the hammer blow lands and how it 'affects' my stock..........

    As with all things theres usually a dozen ways to skin a cat.................

    Personally I prefer to use the ball side cause thats how I've been taught. My experience has been I get more control over the hammer blows; make less mistakes and tend to guage better how my strikes are affecting the metal I'm hitting.

    Weather this method offers any real advantages over the method your using particularly if your getting good consistant results is hard to say..............I suspect there nominal and more to do with personal preference than anything else..............Happy Hammering

    Regards Lou
    Just Do The Best You Can With What You HAve At The Time

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    sydney ( st marys )
    Age
    64
    Posts
    4,887

    Default

    Thanks for the reply,I just thought there might of been a theoretical reason for using the ball end.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Blue Mountains NSW Australia
    Posts
    408

    Default

    Not sure of the theoretical reason for peening in the above application.... But...
    The ball end on a peening hammer is for the purpose of peening. Peening is the production of numerous cup shaped depressions in the surface of the material, which puts the surface in tension. It is an age old method of strengthening many types of components subject to high stress.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Lindfield N.S.W.
    Age
    62
    Posts
    2,383

    Default

    Lou

    thanks for this and your other threads giving us the benefit of your learning curve as you become a fully-fledged metalworker. Those of us who like to dabble in this sort of thing benefit hugely when this kind of info becomes available, and the fact that you are documenting it as you are learning yourself makes it easier for those without experience to relate to your explanations (sorry, to Grahame and the other professional metalwork teachers, but you know what I mean).

    Greenie launched
    Cheers

    Jeremy
    If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •