AN hardware and the Metric System
in General Tech Discussion
6 years ago
If this were easy it wouldn't be as much fun. Living here in the good ole' USA we are used to the SAE and AN systems of hardware identification, but our Rotax equipped aircraft bring us kicking and scream into the world of metric hardware. I was a foreign car mechanic for many years...so it is not quite as confusing to me. But now I got my LSRM-A and maintain a Tecnam with a 912 ULS for a flying club.
Can someone direct me to an authoritative source of aircraft-grade metric hardware? For example, AN-type aircraft bolts are identified by the code markings on the bolt head. Metric bolts, of course, have a different set of markings. Here is my concern...Standard AN hardware is corrosion resistant steel and is heat treated to a strength in excess of 125,000 psi. What markings on the head of a metric bolt would give the same strength?
Can someone direct me to an authoritative source of aircraft-grade metric hardware? For example, AN-type aircraft bolts are identified by the code markings on the bolt head. Metric bolts, of course, have a different set of markings. Here is my concern...Standard AN hardware is corrosion resistant steel and is heat treated to a strength in excess of 125,000 psi. What markings on the head of a metric bolt would give the same strength?
Jeffrey Fritts, USAF (ret.)
www.flywwlsa.com
"In aircraft maintenance, good enough is not good enough."
