Alternatives to T-nuts and what's a good graphic to show types of nuts?

[george newbury]

I'm assembling a "box" for my equipment trailer to ease transport of household items.

This pic shows the rails I put up to aid in transporting firewood, mulch (with a liner), gravel etc.
20140807_120053.jpg

The 2x6 horizontals were put based on the max load of stuff I could carry. However, I need to remove all to load one of my tractors.
m4700-trailer1.jpg

I've now put 4' high plywood sides and a roof on, all wood is either plywood or 2x4's. My primary fasteners are 3/8" hex bolts and flat U bolts of varying lengths. One of the main features I was focusing on (besides safety and rigidity) was ability to assemble/disassemble it by myself with minimum tools. With a battery powered drill spinning off all the nuts is relatively quick and easy until I put the top on.

The drawback is that on the hex bolts I've got to "clamp" the nut on one side to bolt/unbolt while ratcheting the other end . When assembling the sides that means when it is enclosed there are a lot of trips to 1) put the bolt thru the hole and clamp visegrips on the head 2) go inside put on washer and bolt, tighten 3) Repeat

This requires a lot of trips in/out and up/down the ramp (or a lot of vice grips to hold the bolt head outside. Without clamping one side of the fastener they will just spin. So I'm going to try T-nuts embedded inside so I can just put the bolt in and screw it in.

Which brings me here - is there an alternative to T-nuts?
And - can people recommend a good reference graphic to show ALL different type of nuts similar to pages like http://www.zoro.com/s/?c=4388&cn=Nuts&page=2 , or http://www.mcmaster.com/#nuts/=u6dxvr , so I can print a graphic for my shop, and provide a link.

thanks

[pat warner]

Propellor Tee nuts will jam in their holes. That will buy you a one-sided assembly.

[Alan Schwabacher]

Chris Schwarz recently went through a lot of hardware options in a quest for something more robust than T-nuts for a knock-down workbench. He finally settled on McMaster-Carr 11445T1, as described here: http://blog.lostartpress.com/2014/08...e-swap-i-hope/

[george newbury]

Propellor Tee nuts will jam in their holes. That will buy you a one-sided assembly.

Thanks, I had not run across propeller tee nuts before.

Chris Schwarz recently went through a lot of hardware options in a quest for something more robust than T-nuts for a knock-down workbench. He finally settled on McMaster-Carr 11445T1, as described here: http://blog.lostartpress.com/2014/08...e-swap-i-hope/

Those look REAL heavy duty!

It seems the propellers are more used for hardwood so they don't split. I'll keep those mounting plates in mind. But my $15 bag of 3/8 T-nuts arrived today and I used about 10 of them immediately in pine 2x4's. They look like the same thing Lowes (http://www.lowes.com/pd_454383-37672...nut&facetInfo=) wants $72 for.

It sped up my assembly/dis-assembly by about a factor of 5.

[Greg R Bradley]

Propeller nuts are great in hardwood, MDF, and plywood. Tee nuts are better in softwood.

Around here, I just go to the local fastener supply or a real hardware store, which is now called an industrial supply store because consumers go to Lowes or HD.

3/8x16 is a standard for rock climbing walls so available cheap everywhere:
http://www.amazon.com/100-T-nuts-for...ywords=tee+nut

[Jack Wilson50]

How about these:

http://temsik.co.za/index.php?main_p...e51011c64978e1

[george newbury]

Propeller nuts are great in hardwood, MDF, and plywood. Tee nuts are better in softwood.

Around here, I just go to the local fastener supply or a real hardware store, which is now called an industrial supply store because consumers go to Lowes or HD.

3/8x16 is a standard for rock climbing walls so available cheap everywhere:
http://www.amazon.com/100-T-nuts-for...ywords=tee+nut

Yes, that's what I bought, and once again I had standardized on a 3/8 x 16 size months before I found I needed to be compatible with rock climbing, serendipity.

I've got about 40 more bolts I might take the nuts off and install Tee nuts.

How about these:

http://temsik.co.za/index.php?main_p...e51011c64978e1

I've tried those but they were more expensive and can rip out from softwood/plywood installs.