# Forum Home Renovation Metalwork & Welding  Bolts made in china

## Marc

I built a cage for a box trailer to carry firewood. Made 4 post out of SHS in 35x35x3 and the side rails in RHS 65x35x2.5 Welded a flange to each end of the rails in 50x5. The post have two 16mm holes each side and I riveted a m12 Rivnut in the holes. 
To bolt the rails to the post I needed galvanised bots M12 30mm long.
Good luck finding them. Everyone has down to 50mm long, nothing shorter.  
After a bit of ring around, Fred Tapping in Ingleburn told me they have them.  
Now comes the saga. Once home, I went to fit the rails to the post and found that I couldn't screw the bolts in the nuts by hand. The thread is way too rough and some don't even engage.  
Well I thought a bit of oil will do and use a spanner. Look at the bolt and what size is this? Try 18 is too big ... 17 is too small. So the M12 bolt needs a 11/16" spanner, brilliant! And they are not even all the same, some take the 11/16 loose and some tight AAAAAAAAAAH 
Next comes mounting my rails with this horrible bolts that need a spanner for each turn. After oiling the thread and winding the bolt up and down now I managed to loosen the newly riveted Rivnuts. Bummer!    
Can you believe I had to find an older smoother bolt, fit it to the rivnut with a few washers and give them a good twist to make them firm again and then patiently fit each crappy bolt. 
We really have stooped low with this "quality" bolts. And they weren't even cheap at $1.5 each
THE END :Annoyed:

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## notvery

tap and die set.. make your own.

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## justonething

Most the nuts and bolts we buy today are made in China. The quality is alright, Nut and bolts are not high tech or anything. A lot of stuffs are in metric now, but there are still other threads around mostly in the engineering industry. I think your problem is to do with your supplier rather than where they were made, because just about every nut and bolt is made in China.

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## cyclic

> I built a cage for a box trailer to carry firewood. Made 4 post out of SHS in 35x35x3 and the side rails in RHS 65x35x2.5 Welded a flange to each end of the rails in 50x5. The post have two 16mm holes each side and I riveted a m12 Rivnut in the holes. 
> To bolt the rails to the post I needed galvanised bots M12 30mm long.
> Good luck finding them. Everyone has down to 50mm long, nothing shorter.  
> After a bit of ring around, Fred Tapping in Ingleburn told me they have them.  
> Now comes the saga. Once home, I went to fit the rails to the post and found that I couldn't screw the bolts in the nuts by hand. The thread is way too rough and some don't even engage.  
> Well I thought a bit of oil will do and use a spanner. Look at the bolt and what size is this? Try 18 is too big ... 17 is too small. So the M12 bolt needs a 11/16" spanner, brilliant! And they are not even all the same, some take the 11/16 loose and some tight AAAAAAAAAAH 
> Next comes mounting my rails with this horrible bolts that need a spanner for each turn. After oiling the thread and winding the bolt up and down now I managed to loosen the newly riveted Rivnuts. Bummer!    
> Can you believe I had to find an older smoother bolt, fit it to the rivnut with a few washers and give them a good twist to make them firm again and then patiently fit each crappy bolt. 
> We really have stooped low with this "quality" bolts. And they weren't even cheap at $1.5 each
> THE END

  LOL, Surely there are Fastener Supplies in Sydney who can supply your needs. 
And if you have to buy 50mm,could you not cut them with a Hacksaw/Grinder in a Vice ?.

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## Ironlady

Hi Marc 
In my experience it is not unusual to come across the odd bolt (gal) and nut that gets a bit sticky when tightening by hand. What I used to do when using gal bolts I would give them a trial run before fitting to make sure they were running free. If they get stuck just hit the nut with a hammer whilst it is still on the bolt on something solid like an anvil or steel workbench. I do agree that not every bolt and nut should be to tight because of excess gal. Probably just got a bad batch. Take them back if they jam and get thread bound. I used FT a few times in Dubbo NSW and seem like a good bunch of people. Inconvienient if you have to drive to far just for a couple of bolts. 
Ironlady

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## Marc

Yes, the odd one, not every single one ... and no, I couldn't cut the 50mm bolts simply because the thread does not go as far as I need it to go. And cutting the thread with a die would negate the galvanising, may as well use ordinary steel. Hammering the nut ... yes, If I had a nut to hammer probably would work.  A Rivnut is ... well riveted inside the SHS. In hindsight I should have used ordinary bolts and spray some cold gal on it.  
I have to say that I have used galvanised bolt by the tens of thousands and when you may get the occasional crusty one, they are usually smooth and correctly sized.  
Next time I go for bolts I'll try to find some cadmium plated and toss this in the scrap bin

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## PlatypusGardens

Not having a lot of luck with nuts n bolts hey mate? 
Wasn't that long ago you were battling with those SS ones....   :Cry:

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## commodorenut

Cad plated is getting hard to find too.  The excuse I've heard is they have outlawed it, but I have to laugh at that, knowing most of our fasteners come from China (and likely the cad ones do too). 
We recently had to change the spec from cad to SS (they were cad for reasons of corrosion resistance & dis-similar metals - not strength) as the suppliers either can't get them anymore, or they charge 4-5 times what they were only 12 months ago. 
One size was over $900 for 100 pcs, but in SS they were $110/100 pcs.   Both made in China.  Go figure.....

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## Marc

Yes, SS would be a good alternative. They wouldn't seize on the rivnuts. By the way this particular m12 nut insert are all cadmium plated.
And talk about prices. Rivnuts M12 at WDS = $1.7 each. Fred Tapping $0.25 ???

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## Ironlady

Not sure if I have seen a rivnut before Marc. I could be wrong but I thought gal nuts were cut a bit bigger to allow extra clearance for the gal on the bolt, If you try a gal nut on a zinc or black bolt it is a loose fit. Just a thought. 
Ironlady

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## Marc

Cool eh? 
The gun is air driven. The cheaper one only work on inserts up to 8 or may be 10mm in mild steel. I found a second hand one used by a widow only to go to church on Sundays, FAR KJ40 made in Italy, with all the perks and whistles that screws in and out and does SS up to 12mm and plays la tarantella. Paid 2 songs for it on ebay US. I find more and more use for it. Lots of fun. 
You are probably correct as to bolt/nut clearance on gal bolts, however I tried a few bolts I had home, m12/50 and I could screw in by hand no problem. This are clearly faulty every single one of them not to mention the erratic head size. 
It would be a non issue if 30 mm length would be easy to find.

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## Ironlady

Thanks for the picture Marc. Looks like a very handy tool to have laying around. 
Ironlady

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## ringtail

Gal bolts will not fit a conventional nut. Totally different to allow for the gal. Just use SS. About 40 cents each

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## METRIX

> To bolt the rails to the post I needed galvanised bots M12 30mm long.
> Good luck finding them. Everyone has down to 50mm long, nothing shorter.

   Is this trailer going to drive itself, via the Galvanized Bots  :Tongue:  
Not Everyone, Scrooz online has them.  hexagon head grade 4.6 bolt and nut galvanised M12 x 30 pack of 10 - Scrooz Fasteners 
If you want Structural grade, 40mm is the minimum. 
Or you could go for 304 Stainless, full threaded. hex head bolts fully threaded 304 standard grade stainless steel M12 x 30 pack of 20 - Scrooz Fasteners 
Or 316   hex head bolts fully threaded 316 marine grade stainless steel M12 x 30 pack of 20 - Scrooz Fasteners

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## ringtail

Surprised you didn't just weld it all together rather than bolt it.

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