Fed up... rounding soft nuts

Anyone else come up with a better solution to soft hex head nuts? Heres the senario:

Its necessary to bolt drive gear/enclosures to stuff etc… obviously. It is necessary to use thread lock because of vibrations It is necesary to take all these bolts out… more often than I anticipated. (Changing wheel size, pully size, troubleshooting, upgrading…)

Every single time I do absolutely anything to do with small hex bolts, I end up in a mess. Drilling out rounded bolts, re-tapping threads, buying different bolts, rounding the new bolts.

I can’t seem to find a hex/allen tool that fits so tightly that it doesnt strip the heads. Ive tried using less tread lock. Ive tried an impact driver. Ive tried hand tools.

I HATE SMALL SOFT HEX BOLTS.

I would have swopped to standard bolts ages ago but almost all the drive gear needs the bolts to be flush with a face, hense the need for an internal fitting tool.

Anyone found titanium hex bolts anywhere… or diamond?.. I jest.

Torx.

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Yeah, hex…torx. Both fit same hole. Both strip head.

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In fact @pylotope, Im realising that Im using all hex bolts. I’ve been using torx bits on the hex bolts because I couldnt find a hex bit to fit. Im gonna change all to torx!

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Well…no wonder you keep stripping them :wink:

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Worth every penny.

https://www.amazon.com/Wera-05073593001-Multicolor-Metric-Blacklaser/dp/B009ODV0OE/ref=lp_2603600011_1_2?srs=2603600011&ie=UTF8&qid=1521154414&sr=8-2

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Have the same, just managed to break the 2mm tip… But otherwise best kit

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I just cant believe Ive never bought actual torx head bolts!!! What the hell!?

Ive always just bought hex head and used torx bit because without thread lock, thats never really been an issue! Ive worked on a million projects and fixed car parts etc, all with torx head bolts and I have NEVER thought to buy them because every time I look, I see hex first. So crazy how your mind can work. Ive ordered a bunch of actual torx ones now. Still can’t believe I didnt think to look for them before.

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Also advisable on m4 bolts for your motors

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Also with blue thread locker it doesn’t require that much to maintain tightness. Probably exceeding the torque while tightening the bolts and making them hard to remove.

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Rounding soft nuts?

Just asking because you mentioned nuts…there’s something you are doing wrong if you are rounding off nuts.

Use the right tool and nuts will not get rounded off, i.e. a 6 point socket, or a box end wrench.

As far as screws, if you absolutely have to use the soft as cheese stainless screws, use the standard cap screws on left in pic if you have the room.

The button head ones (on right) always take a smaller key and are prone to strip out if torqued down too tight.

The tool is much harder than the stainless steel screw, so the screw head loses every time.

For the smaller sizes, try to use black oxide screws as they are much harder than the stainless steel ones.

If you ride or live by the sea, stick with stainless steel.

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My guess is your using imperial bits on metric nuts… Or a metric bit on imperial nuts… So you keep stripping them.

Or you can’t put the bit in the holes straight

Or your the incredible hulk…

Or your over torquing bolts…

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All of the above.

Im putting torx bit in a hex bolt. Thats the cause for the rounding. Thanks for input folks!

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