Drilling holes for machine bolts and nuts question?

[nao57]

When you go to say drill a hole to put a bolt in, do you actually want the hole to be a size bigger than the machine bolt and nut, so that you can work with it if you need to get it out? (And is that different in woodworking compared to metalworking?) I've wondered about this for awhile and didn't grow up doing this stuff; though I'm very interested in it now.

 

[2ndTink]

It will depend on the application as to what tolerance is acceptable on the hole the bolt goes through, at least for metal. I'm not familiar with wood. It will depend on the material, thickness of it, use (is it under load or not, cyclic loading, heat / cold, etc) as to what diameter hole is best for the bolt.

Also "a size bigger" can be a big range, if you are talking dril sizes from Lowes, you can be 1/8" to 1/64", if you are in a machine shop then you're talking thousandths. You can look into ASME tolerances standards if you want some reading. Another fun way is to find a local VoTech school that offers machining as an adult class!

 

[nao57]

It will depend on the application as to what tolerance is acceptable on the hole the bolt goes through, at least for metal. I'm not familiar with wood. It will depend on the material, thickness of it, use (is it under load or not, cyclic loading, heat / cold, etc) as to what diameter hole is best for the bolt.

Also "a size bigger" can be a big range, if you are talking dril sizes from Lowes, you can be 1/8" to 1/64", if you are in a machine shop then you're talking thousandths. You can look into ASME tolerances standards if you want some reading. Another fun way is to find a local VoTech school that offers machining as an adult class!

Thank you very much.

Machining does sound interesting.