Standard methods to prevent threaded connections from loosening
There are several practice-tested ways to protect threads from unwinding:
- Screwing on a lock nut, which can be either a regular nut or a special clamp nut designed for this purpose.
- Using a spring washer.
- Applying a compound - a special glue - to the threaded connection.
- Use of a self-locking nut with a nylon or polyamide locking ring.
But there are situations when you need to make a non-loosening connection, but there is no suitable product, or there is no room on the bolt for a locknut. You can proceed as follows.
Lifehack
To make a self-locking nut you will need the following materials:
- Actually, a bolt and nut that needs to be locked.
- Electrical heat shrink tubing.
- Heat source (a regular lighter will do).
- Spanners.
Technology
The essence of the life hack is as follows:
- We put the heat shrink tube on the bolt with a small “tail”.
- We heat it so that it shrinks and tightly grips the thread; the “tail” should remain: it will serve as a guide for the nut.
- We put the nut on the tube and begin to tighten it. It should go very tightly, so you need to use the keys from the first turn.
- The thread will cut off the “tail” of the tube and it will fall off.
As the nut goes over the bolt, the tube material fills the threads, so the effect is the same as using a nut with a press-fit nylon ring.
Tests have shown that the nut fits securely and does not unscrew due to vibration. If it is necessary to unscrew the connection, this is done in the usual manner using a wrench and the necessary force.
Note! This method works for bolts with a diameter of at least M8, since with a smaller diameter of the heat-shrinkable tube it does not provide sufficient force to ensure reliable fixation.
We hope that home craftsmen will appreciate this simple, quick and convenient way to fix a threaded connection.
