BEWARE! Long Thread Engagement Lengths Can Cause Binding by Joe Greenslade al times I have been contacted ner supplier who externally freely entersa GO sing gage, but it is binding in an nally threaded component that accepts a GO pl Timmediately ask the following exo questions: 4. When fully assembled, how long is the length of thread engagement between the mating thread? 2. What classes of gages are being used tw inspect the avo threads? In most of the cases 1 the internal thread isa drilled and tapped component with Unreads that than nave been told cengige a clepth equal to or gt ‘ovo times the thread’s nominal major diameter, In other words, if we are dis. cussing a 1/2inch diameter thr length of engagements 1 inch or more. the Maximum standard length of equal imes the nominal major diameters. When mating threaded components gage correctly but bind during assembiy, the problem is that the components are 1g inspected with standard ring and ‘ages that have a length of engage- met CN ment less that of the application’s. The length of thread engagement for stan- dard thread gages is equal to approxi- mately one nominal thread diamerer. When an application's length of engage ment exceeds one and one-half nominal thread diameters of length, binding can occur due to the accumulation of lead error between the two components On page 78 is a chart showing the ‘maximum lengihs of engagement within which standard gages apply. The inch cu oO j is AH 4-1/2_D Max. Standard Length of Engagement fideline is in ASME BI.1 Section 5 and metric guidelines come from ISO. 1. On inch threads the length of thread engagement is re nal major diameter, Metric lengths of thread engayement are relative 40 the pitch length of the thread. These wo dif ferent methods of establishing maxt mum standard length of engagement correlate very closely to each other for screw thread sizes ‘continwc on poge 78 Joe Groastade has been active in the fastener industry since 1970. He has held positions with major fastener producer, in sales engineering, marketing, oduct design, manufacturing managenent, and reseerch and development manage Mn Groenslade holds twekow U.S. patents on various fastener wlated products. He has authored over 136 trade joucnal articles on fastener applications, manufacturing and quality issues. He is ome of the fastener industry's most “frequent spotters ai trate association meetings andl conferonces, He i the youngest person eves induced to the Fastener TIniiustey Hal of Fame, Mr Greenslade is active in numerous fastener industry associations and societies, holding office in several of them. In aditien to guiding the activities of Grenstade & Company, Mr. Crrensade works as ¢ consultant with fastenes suppliers and end users on product design, applications engineering, and quality issues. In this capacity he works to resale fastener applications proliems, to help sdect the bot fastening approades in new preduct designs, w assist in the standawdization of fasteners used within an organization, and o provide taining on various aspects of fastening technology and fastener quality essurance, He also seraes as Expert Witness in Ttigation involving fastener related Amore Fasano our Nov/Dec 8BEWAR continued fom pege 77 Inch tad Nominal Eee tet Cg Srennas roe cee) According to the standards, ifa length of engagement longer than one and one- ball diameters is used, adeitional toler ance should be allowed on either/or both th dimensions. Very few fastener designers co users know of these prorisions in the suandards. Many designers are afraid to se additional tolerance for fear that the joint might be weakened. Many produ external unread designers operate on the misconception that extra long lengths of thread engagement make an nssembly strong is a somewhat logical, but erroneous, conclusion, Coarse threads and looser thread fits have fewer bind- ing problems than do finer threads and closer thread fits. Another troublesome misconception held by many designers is that fine threads are in some way superior to coarse threads. The teuth is that fine smbly prob- lems than do coarse threads. Wisin one nominal major diameter length of threads cause many more a ci ad cay Porte) er eres noe racy Co) ‘om 30% t0 50% is engaged than there are coarse threads, The greater the nam ber of threads there are within any length of engagement, the 1 tendency for thread binding. Anv factor contributing to thread binding the class of fit. The closer the fic (3A/3B ws. 20/28), the greater the tendency for thread binding, ‘engagement the more fine thr ther In a good assembly design, a fastener failure should result ig the screw or bolt ‘stripping the internal thread. A basic enygineeting concept for joint design is to design a joint so that if there is a Fasten failure, the failure will be a broken externally threaded component instead of a stripped internal th The basis for this reasoning is simple When a screw or bok breaks, the joint failure is obsious and corrective sition to repair the immediately before further damage is caused. If, however, an internal thread is stripped, the bolt or screw may stay assembly can he taken ‘American Fastener Journal Noscmber/Desemer 18 intact with the assembly 1 total join ailure will not occur until the assembly ne operating, loads are applied. Failures at this time can reailt in substantial damage and/or possible human i Generally a steel screw or bolt ean be driven co torsional failure in & steel inter nally threaded component when the Tength of engagement is equal to one thread di screw or belt ip an aluminum assembly having a length of thread engagement equal t9 one and one-half to evo thread. diameters, the screw or bolt can usually be driven to torsional failure without the internal thread trippin Lengths of thread engagement Ionger than those needed to torsionally {ail the screw or bolt are valueless regard ing joint strength and reliability. Not only are longer lengths of engagement ‘nox beneficial, in many eases they can be deitimental, When threads bind during assembly, the screw or bolt is prohibited. from becoming properly stressed. This is placed into service ancl meter. When using a steel reals in a loose joint that may ful pre= smaturely. The only applications that justify a length of engagement greater than one diameter in steel or wo diameters in al. rmiinum are where the application is used as a means of providing length adjust- A simple, practical gaging practice can avoid binding problems. To minimize thread binding when lengths of thread engagement are going to be greater than one and one-half nominal diameters, the thread prodac- ers of both the internal and externa reads should use special thread gages having a thread length equal to the acural application, The external th inspected using a GO ring gage special thickness equal to the applica- tion's engagement length, Ring gages having a non-standard thickness are always considered “special. The class of gage to be used on external threads before plating or coating is 2A for inch thieads and Gg for meuie threads, The class to he sed after coating or pl threads is 3A GO for inspecting Unreads and Gh GO for gaging metric threads.‘The intemal thread should ako be inspected using a GO plug gage with a thread length equal to the length of thread engagement in the application. A 2B gage should be used for inspecting ich _Uneads and a OU gage should be used for inspecting metric threads. In many cases, special internal thread be inspected lengths of engagement c sing what is referred to as 2 s ‘reversible GO plug gage. tandard Here is my suggestion for the best “fix” for an immedi- ate thread-binding problem caused by excessive length of thread engagement. When a problem of this natare is encountered I have found the most ap the internal threads tical “fix i610 ¥ taps having a larger pitch diameter Retapping the internal thread with an oversized tap will Unread binding in the application with- ‘out compromising joint strength. Taps hhaving oversized pitch diam ally readily available from tap suppliers. Afier the immediate problem is dealt with described above should be used when future components are produced. snerally eliminate the use of special gages as Knowing the application before the sale can head off a lot of problems. It is always a good idea for fastener suppliers to know the application which parts they supply are being use Knowing the application before the can provide valuable information that may help the supplier anticipate and head off avoidable future potential prob- Jems. I know this seldom happens, but I encourage suppliers to wy to understand the applications whenever possible prior to the If you do investigate an application before the sale and learn a designer wants to use a length of thread engage- mentlonger than one and one-half nom al jor dliametcrs, I hope you will -¢ this article with him and avoid potentially serious thread binding prob- ems before they start. Ml NEW ADDRESS! Greenslade & Company 2234Wemeca Street Fort Worth, TX 76102 817-870-8888, 817-870-9199 Fax