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Posted by D Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 11:59:22 :
In Reply to: Re: Fastener List posted by Jerry in Idaho [69.59.83.175] on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 11:22:35 :
The original style bolt heads are not made any more. Modern bolts will always look modern. That only really matters if you care about authenticity, though the modern ones are also thinner and harder to get a grip on with a wrench.
The square washers are the real bugger. Many of the old ones have gotten broken, and in any case they're difficult to remove from the bolts once they've been compressed. It's worth trying because they're so expensive. McMaster Carr still sells most sizes individually at very high prices and now and then a box will turn up on ebay. A couple guys here have quantities of one size or another, but nobody has every size you need and they're always expensive.
Several years ago I looked into ordering quantities of every size. West Coast Lockwasher listed them all in their catalog, and for most sizes even listed several different thicknesses. Unfortunately none were stocked. When I talked to them they said that they still had the dies for a few sizes and would make a run of them to order if I ordered enough ("enough" was a very large number, I don't remember how many). For the other sizes the dies had been scrapped, but they would make new dies if I ordered enough ("enough" was a very much larger number).
The washer issue is tougher than the bolt issue, because the washers actually serve a necessary purpose. They're designed specifically to hold sheet metal to frames and other supports. They both lock and spread out the load. In most places, you could probably do almost as well with a large flat washer and a split lock washer, but it won't look anywhere near right and it won't have the "bite" necessary to get a good electrical connection, which is important some places. The closest modern equivalent is the "internal/external toothed lock washer", but even they can be hard to find in the right sizes and heavy enough to spread the load very much across sheet metal.
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