Bolt Thread Size (Damn Metric Shit)

[maradcliff]

I think this might be metric bolts because they dont appear to be SAE. I am puzzled what they are referring to.

I bought a used Makita table saw at a garage sale. It needed a few repairs which I took care of. I got a downloaded PDF file from their Makita website to help me determine what went where. I got it all together and it works except the rip fence is missing a bolt that makes it clamp sloppily. My parts can does not have anything that will fit, so I'm off to the hardware store later today. The parts list in that PDF file show this bolt as "Hex Bolt M6X16". WTF is that? I am assuming the "M" means metric. Is that correct? I am assuming 6X16 means 16 threads per inch. (that looks about right), but what is the "6"? 6 centimeters long, or is it 6cm thick? There's a number missing either way......

Now looking at it in SAE terms, it's about 1/4" thick, fine threaded, and 1/2 to 5/8 inches long, and the head is roughly 3/8" hex.

Damn I hate metric shit...... I wish I had been born 100 years sooner so I'd never have to get frustrated by this metric crap. I was born in America, that means I should be speaking English, and using inches and feet, not speaking a foreign language or using goddamn metrics from countries that dont know how to measure things. Yep. metrics are one of my top pet peeves that really piss me off........

At least they dont have the rip fence ruler in metric, or I would have not bought the saw. At my age, I am too old to change to metrics anyhow.

Mark

[John Grabowski]

Here is a conversion chart that you might find useful:

[Joseph Meehan]

You might find the following helpful

If we had switched to metric 100 years ago we all would have been better off. :-)

[Doug Miller]

So far...

Threads per *inch* on a *metruc* bolt??? Think about it a bit...

Diameter in millimeters

6cm *thick* would be one hell of a bolt. Think about it a bit...

True enough. The missing number is the thread pitch. 6x16 means 6mm in diameter x 16mm long.

[Avery]

You would still be better off if you did it tomorrow.

What's the impediment except for guys like the OP.

All of your multinationals manufacture things for the rest of the world in metric sizes. Your manufacturing industries would be much more competitive if they turned over to the right side. The only thing that keeps imperial measurements going is a reasonably large domestic market, and that will evaporate in the next few years in the face of foriegn competition (China).

[maradcliff]

OOPS..... I guess it would be a sin and sentence to hell to use the word "inch" on a metric bolt. I suppose it's threads per kilometer or some such nonsense. This alone is proof that metrics are meant to drive people insane. They are made for the criminally insane, because after using them, one has an urge to kill whoever made the bolt metric.

Thanks for the info, and yeah, it's MM not cm.... So, are all metric bolts the same thread pitch since they dont list it???

It's so much easier to say I need a 1/4" bolt 1" long with 24 threads per inch.

I think all metric bolts should be sent back to their own country of origin, and the US governement should ban them in the US. If for no other reason, they are anti-patriotic. America was built with inches, feet, yards and miles..........

[DT]

It's a standard 6mm bolt, 16mm long. Metric specs usually don't add the thread pitch unless it is a extra fine or coarse thread instead of the standard.

-- Dennis

[Harry K]

Ayup and another good example of the bennies of the metric system. Fewer different sizes in anything, fewer wrench sizes, fewer bolt sizes, fewer thread pitches, etc. I hated it when I rotated back to the states after years overseas and had to go back to this abortion we call a 'system'.

Harry K

[Edwin Pawlowski]

You can be assured th at anything made overseas is metric. 90% of the world is speaking hte same tooling lanugage, but the US persists with a strange system.

I am

Nope, with metric, yo don't need to know the thread pits except in a few unusual cases. That is mm, not cm and it is 16 mm long.

Many people feel that way but eventuall we get educated and find that our system is the strange one and metric is sooooo much easier. If the 10mm socket is too small, the 12 mm is too big, you can be sure that 12mm is the right one. No 17/32 to figure out.

When I started working at my present employer, we had some imported machines (none made in the US any more) and I had to learn metric. It takes about a day and a half and you realize it is easier to think in bars and millimeters. The medical field has used metric forever. It just makes sense, just like our money system that you like compared to shillings and quid and lira. Of course, we have to change some of our old sayings , like trying to stuff 10 kilos of shit in an 8 kilo bag.

Learn it, for it is not going away.

[Chris Lewis]

According to :

Why would they pervert the metric system by using a foreign measurement?

Actually, it's threads per mm. A 6mm bolt standard thread is

1.0 threads per mm.

No, one gets the urge to kill whomever came up with the SAE sillyness. #6 bolts? Furlongs? Chains? Rods? Cubits? Hogsheads? Barrels (all 30+ different sizes)? "penny sizes" for nails? Gah.

[barry]

Now that you've cooled down, and been advised as to the relative absurdity of inches/feet/miles and all this crap ...

In the first place, instead of ballistic response, why not just ask local hdw-store clerk, or local tool dealer for the one stinking bolt. You might even have gotten explanation about the size-designation system, to help with future metric fasteners.

J

[Richard J Kinch]

Nope. English is threads per unit length; metric is unit length per thread, the inverse.

[Chris Lewis]

I thought so at first too, but when I checked tables, seemed t'other way around. But seems like I misread the table. You're right. Oops ;-)

[Doug Miller]

I'm perfectly comfortable with either one -- but what just drives me up the wall is manufacturers who *mix* the two in the same machine. Used to have a '78 Oldsmobile that was like that. Never knew which set of wrenches to grab when I tried to do anything with it.

[gfretwell]

Go to the hardware store or the auto parts place. They understand this commie metric shit. This is a common bolt. everyone will have it

[Noozer]

Nope... metrix bolts are measured in how far from thread to thread.

It will most likely be an M6x1x16, meaning 6mm in diameter, 1mm from thread to thread and 16mm long.

Naw...

M6x1x16 is just as easy as 1/4"x1 UNC

[Richard J Kinch]

That's not the proper designation. See _Machinery's Handbook_.

[Briggs]

Metric makes a lot more sense (it was designed that way). We just know what we're used to. For example, what horsepower light bulbs do you use? I don't know either, I use the dreaded metric unit--watts. Familiarity with the metric system would have saved a couple of Mars missions and about a gazillion dollars.

[maradcliff]

I really dont understand how it can make more sense. Do you really think anyone can remember all these numbers? (examples below)

a 2X4 board = 5.08 x 10.16 (cm) a 1x6 board = 2.54 x 15.24 (cm) an 8 foot long stud = 2.4384 (meters)

4x8 foot sheet of plywood = 1.2192 x 2.4384 (meters) 30 miles per hour = 48280.32 meters per hour 1 yard of carpeting = 0.9144 meters of carpeting

How can you call this simple?

2x4 is easy to remember, not 5.08 x 10.16.....

[Keith Williams]

Ah, but a 2x4 is 1.5" x 3.5". ;-)