Nutdrivers. Metric or SAE?

[Chris350]

This is aimed toward the tinkerers in the group.  What are the most common nuts used in the assembly of HO?  Are they metric or standard?  I want a set of precision nutdrivers and never thought about which to buy, till now.  Of course I was in my local shop (two actually) today and forgot to grab a set.  Micro-Mark has a couple of sets, as do a number of other sources.  Anyone find one brand to be better quality than another?
Thanks!
Chris

[jonathan]

Chris,

Sorry, I keep jumping in on your questions for some reason.

I like to tinker.  I have found only two nutdrivers necessary.  It seems two sizes of nuts are used on HO steam engine crank pins, drive rods and valve gears.  I may get the sizes wrong here, but I think they are 0-80 and 0-90.  Woodland Scenics carries both sizes and they are purchased separately rather than in a set.  All other equipment seem to use small screws, either flat or crosshead.  That's my experience.  I may not tinker as much as others, and they could have found other areas that require nutdrivers.

Regards,

Jonathan

[tac]

This is aimed toward the tinkerers in the group.  What are the most common nuts used in the assembly of HO?  Are they metric or standard?  I want a set of precision nutdrivers and never thought about which to buy, till now.  Of course I was in my local shop (two actually) today and forgot to grab a set.  Micro-Mark has a couple of sets, as do a number of other sources.  Anyone find one brand to be better quality than another?
Thanks!
Chris

Since all models these days are either made in China or another metric standard country, I'd invest in a set of metric wrenches/spanners/tube spanners/nut runners...

tac
www.ovgrs.org

[pdlethbridge]

2-56 is also common,  like in mantua/bowser locos

[Chris350]

Thanks fellas, I was expecting to see the metric response.  Excuse my thickness, but 0-80 is an SAE standards size?  So far I looked at Micrs-Mark and they list metric or standard sets.My world as a carpenter is in inches and fractions there of, or in millimeters.  Therefore I'm not conversant in small parts sizing standards.  I have no issues with anyone adding their .02 to anything I have to ask or comment about.  It's all about shared knowledge.....

[jonathan]

Oh, the little things that make my head hurt...

I am as confused as the next guy about conversion equivalents.  I did find this tidbit form Micromark (see below).  As a famous alien from Star Trek TNG once said, "We like it when you make things go."

00-90 = (5/64 inch) (like the screws in your/my glasses)
0-80   = (3/32 inch)
1-72   = (7/64 inch)
2-56   = (1/8 inch)   hex head screws and nuts.

These are fairly common sizes found in HO equipment.  I did see some metric conversion charts, for these sizes, on line, but they're too lengthy to post here.

R,

Jonathan

[Chris350]

Oh, the little things that make my head hurt...

I am as confused as the next guy about conversion equivalents.  I did find this tidbit form Micromark (see below).  As a famous alien from Star Trek TNG once said, "We like it when you make things go."

00-90 = (5/64 inch) (like the screws in your/my glasses)
0-80   = (3/32 inch)
1-72   = (7/64 inch)
2-56   = (1/8 inch)   hex head screws and nuts.

These are fairly common sizes found in HO equipment.  I did see some metric conversion charts, for these sizes, on line, but they're too lengthy to post here.

R,

Jonathan

That's what I was looking for... Silly engineers, have to have a fancy designation fro everything.
Thanks.

[ebtnut]

I'm not 100% sure on this (and I'm sure someone on the board will chime in), but I believe that the tag for each SAE screw size is related to the equivalent wire size ( 1, 0, 00, 000) for the shank of the screw plus the number of threads per inch.  Thus, an 0-80 screw is O wire size with 80 threads per inch.  Metric screws are simply termed in millimeters, the diameter of the shank - 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, etc. 

[Chris350]

I'm not 100% sure on this (and I'm sure someone on the board will chime in), but I believe that the tag for each SAE screw size is related to the equivalent wire size ( 1, 0, 00, 000) for the shank of the screw plus the number of threads per inch.  Thus, an 0-80 screw is O wire size with 80 threads per inch.  Metric screws are simply termed in millimeters, the diameter of the shank - 1mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, etc. 

Interesting.

[rich1998]

The below link should give you an idea of common fasteners used in model railroading, at least N scale and HO scale. What can complicate it is the drills and taps for metric screws.
Right now I have only SAE stuff and I am very careful when taking apart stuff made outside the USA which is a lot of model railroad stuff now. Easy to lose fasteners.
You will notice that NWSL mentions a lot of stuff in Metric terms.

Below is an online conversion calculator I found some years ago.

http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm

With a little searching, you can find a lot of online calculators for many different applications. Many, many people have no idea on how much material there is online. Of course, a lot of people do not like going to libraries either.

Lex

[Nigel]

This is aimed toward the tinkerers in the group.  What are the most common nuts used in the assembly of HO?  Are they metric or standard?  I want a set of precision nutdrivers and never thought about which to buy, till now.  Of course I was in my local shop (two actually) today and forgot to grab a set.  Micro-Mark has a couple of sets, as do a number of other sources.  Anyone find one brand to be better quality than another?
Thanks!
Chris

Depends on what you are tinkering with - Mantua (before Model Power purchase), Bowser, MDC/Roundhouse (before Athearn purchase), and others, you need inch.  If your working Bachmann, BLI, PCM, Roco, P2K, and many others, you need metric.

This is a great source of information on sizes:
http://www.newmantools.com/taps/micro.htm

If you are doing tinkering, you'll also want a tap set.

Some sources for small hardware and tools:
http://www.smallparts.com/
http://www.nwsl.com/
http://www.microfasteners.com/
http://www.drillbitcity.com/catalogue/25_piece.asp?Pt=2&St=&Sc=
http://www.toolsgs.com/
http://www.widgetsupply.com/
and there are undoubtedly others.

[rich1998]

Roundhouse now is made in China. Metric hardware. I have the old MDC and new Roundhouse.

Lex