Needing help on terminology to locate part- cylindrical nut....

[Truefire]

I am attempting to locate cylindrical nuts, often used to embed into a piece of woodwork or otherwise, which possess a 'tapped through hole' perpendicular to the cylindrical axis. Anyone have any ideas what these are properly termed for search results?

Needing the tapped hole to be 7/16"-14.

Thanks, Chris

 

[Gotcha6]

Bedrail bolts & nuts are the items that come to mind. Never seen one that large, though. You may end up making your own.

 

[Dave Richards]

Cross dowel?

http://www.rockler.com/cross-dowels first link that popped up for me.

 

[ehpoole]

Cross dowel?

http://www.rockler.com/cross-dowels first link that popped up for me.

You beat me as I was double checking the terminology. Look for "cross dowels" and "knockdown fasteners" for related alternatives.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

"Cross Dowel" is also sometimes referred to as a "Barrel Nut". Same thing.

 

[Jeff]

Bed bolts or barrel nuts, aka cross-dowels.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=40445&cat=3,40842,41269

http://www.mcmaster.com/#90835a200/=ygne4m

You're searching for giant ones. Why so large and what are they for?

 

[JimD]

Might have to make it. Shouldn't be too hard. If you have the right sized tap it wouldn't be expensive or take long.

 

[Truefire]

Following Dennis' post, prior to revisiting the forum here while searching his input, regarding "bedrail bolts" I discovered what I am looking for. There just so happened to be a picture in that return of photographs which I was able to discover the name- 'barrel nuts.'

Thanks for everyone's help.

I cannot definitively say at the moment but just through common observation it seems that 'barrel nuts' would be more fitting for the ones that don't possess a screw slot on their end faces. Whereas, the ones that do, 'cross dowel' or 'knockdown nuts' would be more fitting for those type. At any rate, I have three terms to aid in the search. Thanks.



Jeff- I will be embedding them inside the wooden body of wooden vises which I'm building that will allow the vise faces to run along a piece of threaded rod.

 

[McRabbet]

Chris,

I doubt you will be able to find cross dowels large enough to fit your threaded rod. I would suggest that you cut a mortise the width of a square nut for 7/16 thread and make it deep enough so the rod will intersect it. That is the method used in a Moxon Vise I have although it uses smaller threaded rod. I also use a small magnetic pickup tool to hold the nut -- it is like a small extendable aerial and clips into your pocket -- you should be able to find one in an auto parts store. They are very handy for retrieving small nuts or screws that fall in awkward places.

Hope this helps.

 

[cpw]

Chris,

I cannot find any 7/16"-14 barrel nuts. Maybe you'll have better luck.

I cannot find an example, but I used to work at a bedroom furniture store and have assembled A LOT of KD furniture and every once in a while we would run across a setup that was basically a hybrid between a barrel nut and a counter joint fastener. In place of the barrel nut you'd have a piece of curved steel with a threaded hole in the wall. You could make it out of a small diameter pipe, an appropriate sized drill bit and a 7/16"-14 tap. For the wood you'd just need a Forstner bit just over the outside diameter of the pipe. You could drill and tap all the way through both sides of the pipe or just cut it in half.

Another option to consider might be square nuts. That was the precursor to barrel nuts back in the good-old days of bed bolts. You just need a mortise in cross-section with your bold hole.

 

[Gotcha6]

Another point to consider for your intended use is that although the barrel nut may fit the drilled hole perfectly, it may have more of a tendency to split the wood along the grain if used in that direction. Have you considered a square nut as well? The bed rail bolts on our old 4 poster bed used square nuts blind mortised into the back of the rail and a countersunk shoulder bolt to draw it up.

 

[Truefire]

noted

 

[Deland]

You might try "Automotive Fasteners" for those. They have stores in a few places, maybe a website. I haven't been able to "Stump" them on anything yet but terminology.

 

[Dutchman]

Try stafast,.....that's where I get mine

"joint connector nut"

 

[Truefire]

Believe it or not Deland, I couldn't find anything similar at 'Automotive Fasteners'.

The nuts are 'barrel nuts', those joint connector nuts don't possess a 'tapped through hole' perpendicular to their cylindrical axis.

I have actually located some larger ones over at Lee Valley but they are termed differently, the issue with common names. Why not attach a specific epithet to these babies! --"bench bolts, special bench bolts, barrel bolts, breakdown bolts and cross dowels"--
:rotflm: Wow!!
Lee Valley has them listed as Special Bench Bolts, LOL!

At anyrate, $30 for (4) 1/2" barrel nuts (otherwise known as 'Special Bench Bolts') isn't the way that I like to play. A fresh drill, tap and some round stock is looking like the order of the day. Plus that's $30 I can put my hands on more than once, in the years that come, and I like that. I'm not burying $30 inside a piece of wood when I can put it inside my toolbox.

 

[mkepke]

Given that this is for a vise, may I recommend that you skip the plain threaded rod (all-thread) and nuts and step up to Acme threaded rod and nuts.

I have build two bench vises using plain threaded rod and machinist-made cross-dowels using ShopNotes plans. Both bound and seized after several years of light use. I suspect they failed due to typical workshop grime - sawdust, chips, spilled finish, etc- building up in the threads and eventually causing a jam. Maybe I dropped something steel on the screw, damaged a threaded and eventually galled the nut.

Perhaps that could be avoided with diligent inspection & cleaning of the screws, but I have no interest in babying a woodworking vise.

Instead I converted to Acme threaded rod, which is a much more robust design and commonly found on commercially made vises, C-clamps, linear power transmission, etc. Basically anything performing repeated clamping in a workshop.

I made my own Acme cross dowels several years ago using plain steel Acme nuts and common black pipe, but you could do something similar using a wooden dowel or plastic rod instead of the steel pipe - see picture below.

-Mark

 

[Truefire]

Cool, thanks for the tidbit Mike. I appreciate the feedback- noted. I could definitely build the cross nut dowels you made...can weld well just don't own a mig welder right now. Sold the cheap one I did have.

 

[Stuart Kent]

Hey Chris I have an assortment of barrel nuts at the shop. Some of them are quite large, used as architectural wood fasteners. You are welcome to see if I have what you need. I certainly did not pay anywhere near the price you mentioned earlier.

 

[Chris C]

I have build two bench vises using plain threaded rod and machinist-made cross-dowels using ShopNotes plans. Both bound and seized after several years of light use. I suspect they failed due to typical workshop grime - sawdust, chips, spilled finish, etc- building up in the threads and eventually causing a jam. Maybe I dropped something steel on the screw, damaged a threaded and eventually galled the nut.

+1. I have experienced this same problem with my Moxon vise. But with the rod and nuts readily available at the Blue Box store I just replaced them.

 

[Truefire]

Thanks Chris