Unfastened or Just Unhinged? Searching for Cheap Fastener Fix

So, yet again, one of my tupperware fasteners on my Norge has gone AWOL.  The zip-tie on-the-road quick-fix actually works fine, but gets snickers.

As my GRiSO uses the same fasteners on its bodywork, thought I'd ask about this here.

I want to order some more, but not in bulk lots of a K or so!  I might as well also get in some more Schnorr washers, despite the fact that one was an accessory in the latest desertion.

So, I try the usual suspects — MGCycles, Harpers,& AF1 — for part 98370616, a hex socket screw M6 x 16.

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I am not spending $2 or even $1.60 for an [expletive deleted] fastener!  

So, I duckducked around.  Lookee here:

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WAY better at $.56 ea!

And, for the washers, found this:

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$.49.  

Anybody worked with these folks or have better sources?

Thanks.

Bill

For generic button head fasteners in Stainless I go to Ace hardware or even Lowes.
If you don't have to have the shoulder like Guzzi OEM, that shoulld suffice if not sportbikebolts is who I'd go to.

If there is a Fastenal near you, check them out...
Cycle Gear has some colored ones with shoulder, I just don't know about their price but like you, anything past 50 cents a piece is too much.

Grisonut wrote:

For generic button head fasteners in Stainless I go to Ace hardware or even Lowes.
If you don't have to have the shoulder like Guzzi OEM, that shoulld suffice if not sportbikebolts is who I'd go to.

If there is a Fastenal near you, check them out...
Cycle Gear has some colored ones with shoulder, I just don't know about their price but like you, anything past 50 cents a piece is too much.

It is interesting -- and I suspect and hope that some bright person made a mint off of the idea -- how the fastener selection at major stores such as ACE, HD, etc., has improved over last several years with the availability of those "prefab" mini bins.  I go to those places and Fastenal, but have not found these.  Moreover, while I almost got suckered into buying stuff I "needed" while wandering around the Cyclegear site a few minutes ago (thanks, Grisonut   ), I could not find such fasteners there at all.  No matter, pretty happy with what I ordered ... well, haven't seen 'em yet.  Price sure is right.

Bought a few of the colored ones to see which, if any, match GRiSO and Norge, and if they look stooooopid instead of cool.

Description Unit price Qty Amount
M6 x 16mm Wide Button Head Screw (Material: 18-8 SS) [208] Optional Colors: NONE
Item# 14 $0.56 USD 20 $11.20 USD
M6 x 16mm Wide Button Head Screw (Material: 18-8 SS) [208] Optional Colors: Flat Black
Item# 14 $0.67 USD 2 $1.34 USD
M6 x 16mm Wide Button Head Screw (Material: 18-8 SS) [208] Optional Colors: Red
Item# 14 $0.67 USD 2 $1.34 USD
M6 x 16mm Wide Button Head Screw (Material: 18-8 SS) [208] Optional Colors: Ruby Red
Item# 14 $0.67 USD 2 $1.34 USD
M6 x 16mm Wide Button Head Screw (Material: 18-8 SS) [208] Optional Colors: Safety Red
Item# 14 $0.67 USD 2 $1.34 USD
Subtotal $16.56 USD
Shipping and handling $3.21 USD
Total $19.77 USD
Payment $19.77 USD

Also ordered 30 of the Schnorrs … Shipping was steep, but it’ll take me awhile to lose those.  

Products
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30 x WSH6SS - Schnorr Washer (WSH6SS)  = $14.70
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Sub-Total: $14.70
Flat Rate (Orders under 15oz ship via USPS First Class. Orders over 15oz ship USPS Priority. Bel-Metric ultimately reserves the right to choose the shipping method): $7.99
Total: $22.69

Finally, tho some may think this detail over fasteners is lunacy , Wayne Orwig said this to me off-line about these washers, at least in the bodywork application:

"I can’t see how a schnorr washer would help much on plastic. Those have a dome shape too them. They have to be very tight to flatten the springy dome, to work. That would be too tight for plastic. You can use RTV as a thread locker. You aren’t supposed to use Loctite with plastic though."

Well, I learned that Loctite lesson the painful way a few years ago, and Wayne may be right about the tension required to flatten. Those don't come with GRiSO or Norge (I don't think ), so maybe none, a more easily compressible wave, or the RTV might be better.

Zzzzzzz.

Bill

Cycle Gear web site doesn't show those colorized/inodized ones but I saw them in my local store last weekend. lol
McMaster-Carr is also a good site for fasteners Bill, and they have a warehouse in GA.

Regardless and hopefully, you'll be happy with what you ordered...

I am a metric moron.

So, ordered those fasteners -- see thread, above -- as my Norge, especially, likes to shed those wide button cap fasteners that hold the tupperware on.

Got 'em today.


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A few comments.

First, the screws are fine.  Except the wrong size.  Doh.  I ordered 6m, and needed 4m.  Anybody want/need some of those?

Second, the three different reds sure look the same to me.  Yes, some difference, and the “plain” red seems to be closest to my Norge and GRiSO’s reds.

Third, they took my money on 8 October, and did not respond to email inquiries or phone calls —“this mailbox is full” — and their website showed no progress whatever until today, when it said the screws were shipped on 20 October.  Actually, according to the USPS tracking number, they went out on 18 October, and I got them today.  

Fourth, they don’t have 4m versions, so I have to find another source.  Fastenal, HD, ACE, etc., do not have wide or flanged button-cap SS fasteners.  No Cyclegear store anywhere near me, but I might look in Atlanta when next there.

Fifth, I just ordered two 10-packs of these from McMaster-Carr,
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I did find one source  in the UK. Price and shipping (to U.S. next week) seem fine — better than M-C, and I get a bunch … I think I'll order from them, too.  


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Kathi just asked me what I am doing.  I told her.  She went off muttering something about "obsessive." She is probably right.   

Bill

Trust me.  I know that no one besides me cares about this at all.    Sigh.

But I care.  Lots.  

This is specially galling as I am a certified bonehead in ordering this stuff.

For example, my McMaster-Carr order came in.  They sent the wrong size.     I ordered M4 and got M10!  

OTOH, it's hard to get too worked up about that when I really needed M5, not M4.  Pathetic.  

This time, I got out my digital caliper and measured all of the little effers.

So, yes, I ordered again.  And, again from Bikebolts.  Yes, they took forever, don't answer emails, and their voice-mailbox is full and won't accept recordings.  

But, they did deliver finally and the product looks OK.  Plus, theirs is 40 cents each, not the $1.60 Harpers wants or the $2.08 that MGCycles wants ... and the latter is out of stock anyway.    https://www.harpermoto.com/bolt-a-98370616.html & [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Now, for anyone who actually reads this and is still plodding through, know that I do have a life and even ride my Guzzi's.  Today, Kathi said she wanted to ride.  

I never pass up that sort of thing, so off we went on the Norge on some of the usual subjects, delightful set of paved wonders.  A bit crisp and blustery, but grand nevertheless.  Makes one forget fasteners.  


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Bill

The solution to lots of problems, Bill, is go ride. Everything else is a moot point...