where to buy that thing at auto stores that they use to measure bolt/nut size?

Anyone know? I know I could build one, but that would main I'd have to know what size all my nuts and bolts are already, lol

Scrap metal and a drill press?

mcmaster-carr.com has them.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#thread-gauges/=g4el3k

order one from the store.

Motormite "Help" # 49340

or

Dorman #415-103

both are between $25 and $40

bolt gauges are available at my local fastener stores for under a tenner.

http://www.drillspot.com/products/983411/bolt_size-it_bg1-p_bolt_gauge

thanks gents. Will swing by fastenal first off.

I wanted one, and couldn't find an affordable one, so I made one, and it only cost as much as the bolts and nuts I used on the board.

Joey

yeah, that is option #2. I'm thinking it would be about $15 to buy all the size runs of nuts and bolts - I don't trust my measuring enough to be sure when all my SAE and metric stuff is all mixed up, and don't want to run the chance of having one of my "reference sizers" wrong, lol.

I have these from boltdepot:

http://www.boltdepot.com/Thread_gauges.aspx?nv=l

My main complaint is the threads don't go fine enough, so I was still forced to use the pitch gauges from the tap and die sets. My g/f got a set of thread gauges that are 1" plastic balls with male and female threads on each end

When we sorted our nut & bolt collection a few years ago, I went on the boltdepot site and wrote down a complete list of every size they sell in standard and metric, then labeled the plastic cabinet drawers with every size, regardless of whether we had them or not. One of the better "something to do while watching tv in front of the wood stove" winter projects we've done. Worth every second of time invested. It's so nice to not waste a 1/2 hr searching for a nut or bolt out of a dumped out coffee can...

Ian F wrote: I have these from boltdepot: http://www.boltdepot.com/Thread_gauges.aspx?nv=l

Thanks for the link. I now have a new place to spend money.

joey48442 wrote: I wanted one, and couldn't find an affordable one, so I made one, and it only cost as much as the bolts and nuts I used on the board. Joey

I like this idea. I used to just sort through my pile of nuts and bolts with a TPI gauge but if I made one of these I could sort everything in an hour.

I do just fine with a thread gauge and a vernier caliper.

alex wrote: I do just fine with a thread gauge and a vernier caliper.

bingo

after a while, you can just look at a bolt or nut and know what it is with a pretty good success rate.. i don't know off hand what the different bolt sizes or thread pitches are, but i can tell if a bolt or nut is going to fit where i intend to put it..

I work at Fastenal and the plastic one that was pictured above should be about $8. It works fine for what it is. You should be able to easily identify standard nuts and bolts easily. Metric will be a little tougher because the posts on the end that measure nuts are in standard only. Metric nuts are measured on the back using a diagram. Not nearly as accurate. There is also a pitch gauge on the back but it is pretty worthless since the gauge is plastic. That's not usually a big deal because you can usually eyeball threads.

When a customer comes in with a bolt that gauge is the first thing we grab. 99% of the time we correctly identify the bolt. The other times it's off a John Deere, Harley, or it's some kind of english oddball.

I was at Harbor Frieght today, they had them, $1.99 I think I almost bought one but already had an armfull.