lockwiring nuts the welders way

[zeppelin builder]

for all you fans that like to see lockwired nuts its a common practice for aero and motor racing applications ,i had a wee spark of genius
you know how difficult it is to drill through the hex of a nut with 1mm drill and after much broken drills and swearing you get there even with a jig (joke)
well take a hacksaw and cut into the peak of the hex say 2x the diam of wire used deep fuse a tack to bridge the top of said cut ,re file hex bingo it couldnt be simpler i ve been using this on 316 ss nuts of all sizes and it does not shrink them or weaken them ,would be cautious on high tensile carbon stuff as it might affect heat treatment but for sump plugs etc it will be no problem as they are usualy made of mild steel

 

[Turbo]

Sorry, you've lost me after you lifted the hacksaw.

 

[awemawson]

Essentially he's doing a 'cut and cover' tunnel rather than a conventional tunnel, but instead of doing in the the ground on a large scale, he's doing it in miniature on a nut

 

[zeppelin builder]

Sorry, you've lost me after you lifted the hacksaw.

should figure it out from here

 

[colnerov]

Hi, Being pedantic!! Those bolts can still come loose because the wire is not in the best orientation to stop it. When the bolt undoes it needs to pull the wire which offers a lot more resistance than pushing it. So in the example above you wire from the bottom bolt hole up and around the outside of the top one and through the hole, terminate there or continue to the next one.

Colin

 

[zeppelin builder]

i could probably fart around with shims under the nuts to get them all positioned right ,but they have been given a good dose of loctite 635, so cosmetic mostly

 

[Turbo]

Ahh, I understand now. Quite a good idea, I'll store that away for future use.

 

[8ob]

Its a neat idea, along the same theme I wondered if a small hacksaw cut under the head of the bolt/nut would do the same job,locking wire would then be clamped between the nut/bolt and washer.

Bob

 

[DrDeAtH]

Hi, Being pedantic!! Those bolts can still come loose because the wire is not in the best orientation to stop it. When the bolt undoes it needs to pull the wire which offers a lot more resistance than pushing it. So in the example above you wire from the bottom bolt hole up and around the outside of the top one and through the hole, terminate there or continue to the next one.

Colin

Agreed, your safety wire is wrapped around the nuts all in the wrong direction. The undoing of the nut should effectively pull the lock wire tighter.

 

[armalites]

When lockwire is required in the Aero industry there are very strict rules on how it's applied and I would be surprised if that method would acceptable. I appreciate in many/most automotive situations it wouldn't matter.

I bought a lock wire tool only a year of so a go as there was a guy selling Snap On ones at the Restoration Show for £10.

I then read loads and watched videos and it's amazing how much there is to learn in lockwiring.The rules for aero are very tight. On one site there were examples that looked perfect, tension in the right directions etc and they were still able to highlight issues.

I watched one video where the guy was lockwiring some cap head bolts 18" down a tube that was 6-8" across. There was a specific requirement for number of twists etc and he got to the last bolt and had to start again a couple of times

 

[zeppelin builder]

i know my norton flies but dont think the scrutineers will pull me for that