m (Geometric and Kogineering Drawing Screw Threads “The screw thread is probably the most important single component in engineering. The application of the screw thread to nuls, bolts, studs, screws, etc., provides us with the ability to join two or mote pieces of material together securely. easily and, most impor- tantly of all, not permanently, There are other methods of joining materials together but the most widely used ones — riveting, welding and (very common these days) using adhesives ~ are all permanent. It is true that these methods are cheaper, but when we know that we might have to take the thing apart again we use the screw thread. Since the screw thread is so important i is well worthwhile looking al the whole subject more closely. ‘The standard thread, in this country, for many years was the Whitworth; this thread ‘was introduced by Sir Joseph Whitworth in the 1840s, It was the frst standard thread; previously a nut and bolt were made together and would ft another nut or bolt only by coincidence. ACthe time, it was a revolutionary step forward. ‘The BSW (British Standard Whitworth) thread and its counterpart the BSF (British Standard Fine) thread were the standard threads in this country until metri- cation and will probably be in use for many years. However, the United States of America developed and adopted the unified thread as their standard and countries using the metric system of measurement had their ‘own metric thread forms, It hecame inereasingly obvious that an international serew thread was needed. ‘As far as this country was concerned, the breakthrough came when it was decided that British Industry should adopt the metric system of weights and measures, The International Standards Organisation (SO) has formulated a complex set of stan- dards to cover the whole range of engineering components. ‘Their thread, the ISO, is now the international standard thread. The ISO and uni- fied thread profiles are identical. The unified thread is the Standard International thread for countries which aro still using imperial units ‘The ISO basic theead form is shown in Fig. 18.9. Piten 0.866 P He Figure 18.9 Basie form of SO thread,Engineering Drawing 2 ‘You will note that the thread is thicker atthe root than at the crest, This is because the stresses on the thread are greater at the root and the thread needs to be thicker there if it is to be stronger, Tn practice, since there is nothing gained by having the root and erest of a nut and bolt in contact, and because ‘square’ comers are difficult to manufacture, the ISO thread form is usually modified to that shown in Fig. 18.10. Nut {Internal theead) roa of thvead in contact Batt (©xernal tread) Figure 18.10 180 thread uted in practice You can see that the contact will be only om the flanks: ‘There is more than one type of ISO thread. There are 12 series of threads ranging from the widely used coarse thread series, which is used on bolts from 1.6 to 68mm, diameter, o a 6mm constant pitch series with sizes from 70 to 300mm diameter. The whole range of thread series has the same basic profile and full details can be found in BS 3643. The fine thread series (the equivalent to the redundant BSF) ranges from 18 to 68mm.ama (Geometric and Kogineering Drawing ‘The British Standard Whitworth thread has now been superseded by the ISO thread. However, the ISO has adopted the Whitworth profile for pipe threads. It is called the British Standard Pipe Thread, Figure 18.11 ‘There are some special threads that have been designed to fulfil functions for which a vee thread would be inadequate. Some are shown. Piet Crest | D=056F igure 18.11 British standard pipe thread, (British Standard Whitworth thread profile) ‘The square thread, Fig. 18.12, is now rarely used because it has been superseded by the acme thread. Its main application is for transmitting power since there is less friction than with a vee thread, Pie Crest |,_Pitetv2_} , J) tre 18.12. Square thread profile, PreteEngineering Drawing 25 ‘The acme thread, Fig, 18,13, is extensively used for transmitting power. The thread form is easier to cut than the square thread because of its taper and, for the same reason, itis used on the lead sexew of lathes where the half-nut engages easily con the tapered teeth, \ Figure 18.13 Acme thread profile. ‘The Buttress thread, Fig. 18.14, combines the vee thread and the square thread ‘without retaining any of their disadvantages. It is strong thread and has less friction than a vee thread. Its main application is on the engineer's vice although itis some- times scen transmitting power on machines. |Orest Pitch Figure 18.14 Buttress thread profile28 (Geometric and Kogineering Drawing Drawing Screw Threads Drawing a screw thread properly is a long and tedious business. A square thread has ‘been drawn in full see Fig. 15.12 and you can see that this type of construction would take much too long a time on a drawing that has several threads on it and would be physically impossible on a small thread ‘There are conventions for drawing threads which make life very much easier. ‘Three conventional methods of representing screw threads are shown in Fig. 18.15, ‘The top two methods are not used on engineering drawings any more, One of these illustrates the shape of the thread and the other has lines representing the thread crest and rool. The bottom drawing shows how to draw a screw thread on an engineering drawing; the parallel lines represent the thread crest and root ‘The only convention which shows whether the thread is right or left-handed is the second one. This is not much of an advantage because the thread has to be dimen- sioned and it is a simple matter (0 state whether a thread is right- or left-handed. Lefi-hand threads are rarely met with and, unless specifically stated, a thread is assumed to be right-handed. “igure 18.15 shows the convention for both external and internal threads, It should be explained that, on the drawings for internal threads, the thread does not reach to the bottom of the hole. When an internal thread is cut, the material is first drilled a litle deeper than is actually required, The diameter of the hole isthe same as the root diam- cter of the thread and is called the tapping diameter. The screw thread is then cut with ‘tap, but the tap cannot reach right to the bottom of the hole and some of the tapping hole is lef. The cutting angle of the drill, for normal purposes, is 118° — almost 120° ‘Thus, a 60° set square is used to draw the interior end of an internal screw thread, ermal loernal Ay, 7 Nad — lL (Gsreerh mesrncliunrtes) ie G I a AY Ww Yi db GP" Oox4B7—- (Cie or ening Sn y, sre 18.15 Conventional representation of sew threadsEngineering Drawing om ‘Nuts and Bolts ‘The most widespread application ofthe screw thread is the nut and bolt showing full details to whenever a nut oF bolt is drawn; itis essential that the first view drawn is the one which shows the regular hexagon. If the across-lats (A/F) dimension is given, draw a circle with that diameter. If it is not, Took in Appendix A under the appropriate thread size, Construct a regular hexagon round the circle with a 60" set square. Project the comers of the hexagon onto the side view of the nut and bolt and ark off the thickness ofthe nut or bolt head (see Appendix A). ‘Nuts and bolts are chamfered and, when viewed from the side, this chamfer is seen 4s radi on the sides of the nut or bolt. If you ensure thatthe fits view projected from the hexagon is the one which shows three faces of the nut (lhe other view shows only two faces), you can draw a radius equa to D, the diameter ofthe thread, on the centre fat The intersection ofthis radius and the corners ofthe neighbouring flats determines the size ofthe two smaller radi, These must start at ths intersection, finish atthe same height on the next comer and touch the top ofthe mut or bolt at the contre of the flat ‘This may be done by ial and error with compasses, or with radius curves. Remember thatthe centre of the radius lies midway between the sides. This view is completed by drawing the 30° chamfer which produced the radi “The third view of the nut of bolt is drawn in a similar fashion, The width and heights are projected from the two existing views and the radii are found in the same ‘way as shown on the other view. However, BS 308 recommends a simplified method of drawing nuts and bolts and tis is shown in Appendix C. ‘Two types of standard nuts and bolts are shown in Fig. 18.16, Type A is standard ‘Type B has a ‘washer face’ underneath the head of the bolt and on one face ofthe mut “The threaded end of the bolt may be finished off with a spherical radius equal to 12D ora 45° chamfer to just below the root ofthe thread. Both of these enable the rut to engage easily and leave no sharp projections. The thread on the aut is also chamfered to assist easy engagement ‘The length ofa bolt is determined simply by the use to which the bolt isto be put There isa very large selection of bolt lengths forall diameters. The bolt should not protrude very far past the nut and so there is no need to thread all of the shank. The amount of thread on a bolt is given in the table below. Length of bolt Length of thread ‘Upto and including 125mm 2d + 6mm Over 125mm and up to and including 200mm = 2d-+ 12mm. (Over 200mm 2d + 25mm ‘These lengths are the minimum thread lengths. Bolts that are too short for minimum thread lengths are called screws. An ISO metric nut or bolt is easily recognised by the letter ‘M’ or ISO M on the head or flats