What is a cage nut used for?

Cage nuts are great for protecting your equipment from stripped threads and allow for convenient mounting of your server rack equipment. A cage nut houses a standard nut in a cage with a spring. The cage has two wings that can be pinched together to allow the cage nut to be inserted into a square hole.

What size are cage nuts?

There are four common sizes: UNF 10–32 and, to a lesser extent, UNC 12–24 are generally used in the United States; elsewhere, M5 (5 mm outside diameter and 0.8 mm pitch) for light and medium equipment and M6 for heavier equipment, such as servers.

Are cage nuts universal?

Universal mounting rails, also known as cage nut style rails, are the most common and preferred type of rails used on the market today.

What is a square nut called?

A square nut is a four-sided nut. Compared to standard hex nuts, square nuts have a greater surface in contact with the part being fastened, and therefore provide greater resistance to loosening (though also greater resistance to tightening).

Do I need cage nuts?

Cage nuts are a necessity for square hole racks unless you are using tool-less rails and shelves.

Are all cage nuts the same size?

There are 3 common sizes for cage nuts. These sizes are 10-32, 12-24 and M6. The size you would need would depend on what is required by the product you are mounting.

How much weight can cage nuts hold?

The spring that holds that cage nut in the rack has to hold around 50 pounds; squeezing it in takes a significant amount of force. Add in that the cage around the nut can be sharp, and cage nuts end up being a continuing source of minor injuries.

Do they still make square nuts?

1/4″ Gutter bolts with square nuts are still available. The common rule was that Square was used where the fastening was not required near the vertical member, or with tension, and then hexagonal were used so as to get closer to the vertical member.

When did square nuts stop?

For both bolts and nuts, heat treating/hardening of the metal was the last step. By the way…that 1949 agreement to standardize nuts and bolts into ISO inch and ISO metric was probably when the square headed bolts/nuts ended production in mass…as it would have required new investments in machinery.

What size is the M6 cage nut?

Why don’t we use square nuts anymore?

Square steel nuts were common on machinery of the late 19th through mid 20th century. Today hex nuts have displaced them. One reason is that a hex nut offers a new wrenching access at every 60°, whereas a square nut offers one only at every 90°.

What year did they stop using square nuts?

What year were square nuts used in furniture?

Square steel nuts were common on machinery of the late 19th through mid 20th century.

What is a capture nut?

Captive, or self-retained, nuts are multiple-threaded fasteners used on many thin materials. Captive, or self-retained, nuts are multiple-threaded fasteners used on many thin materials. They are good in blind locations, and can generally be attached without damaging finishes.

What year did they stop making square nuts?

When did manufacturers stop using square nuts?