Mismatched hardware

[high plains drifter]

Dunno why this has been in my thoughts lately but curious to hear how big a deal this is to others.

For me... combined with my natural OCD about so many things, mismatching hardware is kind of like wearing two differing socks or telling someone I used real lemons in the fake lemonade. Obviously it's most critical with visible hardware from an aesthetic standpoint or hardware that is going to be subjected to load, sheer, etc or if for any other reason, exact dimensions and specs are necessary but for me, it doesn't end there.

If a project calls for two or more screws, bolts, nuts, washers, etc... I'll go the ends of the earth ( certainly to the ends of my hardware bins) to make sure I have a perfect match. If it calls for 6 screws and I have 5 exactly the same... even then it'll drive me nuts to mismatch that last one.

To make things more frustrating, it doesn't even matter if someone will see all the hardware in the finished presentation. If I know that something isn't the same from one end to the other, it bugs me... weather it's hidden or not.

I have on occasion ( either from pure exhaustion of the project itself or because I just couldn't bear one more trip back to the hardware store) thrown in the towel and substituted a mismatched screw, bolt, washer, or nut in the case of something where it would NEVER be seen again... as long as being perfect wasn't an integrity/ strength issue but that's been very rare to have waved that white flag.

For whatever reason(s) hardware just has to be exactly the same head and tool type, size, length, material/ finish, etc from start to finish.

Okay.. am I alone in this? Do other folks just mismatch hardware and go about the rest of their day without feeling like a degenerate, without conscience? And how do you even function... knowing that you used a 1 1/2" galvenized screw along with three other 1 5/8" zinc screws??? Or one lock-washer and one flat-washer... I think I'm gonna be sick. To me, that's just straight up madness! Had I been an heir to the Granger or Fastenal dynasties, I feel like life would've been so much easier.

Anyway... thoughts?

 

[Gula]

I stopped caring about stuff like that, and the same as mismatched socks a few years ago and put on the first thing in my hands.

 

[high plains drifter]

I figured I might be in the minority here lol. Don't even get me started on socks!

I dunno why I'm like this but it certainly makes projects go slower and is more frustrating when I can't get everything matched.

 

[ferp420]

i prefer matching hardware but often dosent happen laitly though if i need 1 screw or nut or bolt ill buy 100 of them so next time i have them but dosent really bother me but it dose make it easyer in the long run
i dont even know if i have a matching pair of socks also cant remeber the last time i wore them
last time i went sking maybe lol
however many years ago that was

 

[Goro Majima]

Oh this bothers me to like no other. If I don't have enough of a certain type/length etc, I'll completely swap the head type to a different size if I have all the screw lengths needed. Same goes for metal and color, black or chrome 4mm nuts.

Symmetrical stuff too. On my loaner build, I had the rear towers linked with a bar that was too short so I used a 6mm aluminum spacer at the time on one end. Since running it recently in a mud pit, I then swapped out that 6mm aluminum spacer for 2x 3mm nylon spacers so that bar is now centered lol.

 

[high plains drifter]

i prefer matching hardware but often dosent happen laitly though if i need 1 screw or nut or bolt ill buy 100 of them so next time i have them but dosent really bother me but it dose make it easyer in the long run
i dont even know if i have a matching pair of socks also cant remeber the last time i wore them
last time i went sking maybe lol
however many years ago that was

haha.. yeah I guess you're not really in a sock-necessity environment. I gotta cover my feet with something though or I'd guess my neighbors would file a public indecency complaint.

A lot of my obsessing over the hardware centers around working loads/ equal strength throughout the part or project. Probably unnecessary a lot of the time but I dunno... I want everything the same depth, same strength, etc... and aesthetically I just think a lot of things look nicer or more professional when the details are addressed.

 

[high plains drifter]

Oh this bothers me to like no other. If I don't have enough of a certain type/length etc, I'll completely swap the head type to a different size if I have all the screw lengths needed. Same goes for metal and color, black or chrome 4mm nuts.

Symmetrical stuff too. On my loaner build, I had the rear towers linked with a bar that was too short so I used a 6mm aluminum spacer at the time on one end. Since running it recently in a mud pit, I then swapped out that 6mm aluminum spacer for 2x 3mm nylon spacers so that bar is now centered lol.

Finally! So I'm not crazy... or you are crazy? Anyway.. glad there's at least some folks out there that feel the same way about this.

 

[Goro Majima]

I look at it like this. If we can pay attention to detail on wheels having correct amount of lugs for a certain rig, let along the scale hardware that goes along with it, then we can match bolt and nut types!

 

[BJoe]

Not really, only time I do that is when I’ rebuilding something and get a screw set for it may need to do that for my SCX10, as it’s a mix of Axial, Du-Bro, and Traxxas bearings, hardware, and rod ends, all that have a good bit of corrosion on the metal bits too.

 

[high plains drifter]

Not really, only time I do that is when I’ rebuilding something and get a screw set for it may need to do that for my SCX10, as it’s a mix of Axial, Du-Bro, and Traxxas bearings, hardware, and rod ends, all that have a good bit of corrosion on the metal bits too.

In that regard, I'm not overly obsessive. I don't care too much if I have to replace certain parts with other parts that don't match up 100% but if it's going to be under load or needs to have the same torque ( equally front to back/ side to side or all the way across)... or if it's going to be seen, then I don't want one piece of hardware to be overly corroded or out of spec or make the project look pieced together... unless that's the look I'm actually going for.

I'll periodically go through my hardware and throw out parts that are a little bent, have slightly stripped heads, are heavily oxidized, etc. I recently needed to make some room in a couple bins ( coarse screws and machine screws) and so I decided to pull out anything with flat-screwdriver heads. Unfortunately I just didn't have the heart to throw em out so now I have an extra bin for all my old-school screws... that I'm pretty sure I'll never use lol.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

My biggest complaint is when you need 4 different wrenches or hex drivers for one RC not including wheel nuts. Why? There should be as many similar hex sizes as possible.

The type of screw head can vary depending on the function though. It only bothers me when it doesn't make sense such as a socket head cap screw sticking out the side of a skid plate. Why?

There are lots of engineers out there, but they sure aren't all good.

 

[Col_Sanders]

About 9 years ago? I bought a black oxide screw set from Screw Loose hardware. I started running low on a few sizes so I went to go buy more from them, but they closed up shop some time ago. I ended up buying a big pack of stainless screws from KNK. My builds get a mix of whatever.

I also randomly take eggs out of the carton in no particular pattern. Embrace the chaos.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

About 9 years ago? I bought a black oxide screw set from Screw Loose hardware. I started running low on a few sizes so I went to go buy more from them, but they closed up shop some time ago. I ended up buying a big pack of stainless screws from KNK. My builds get a mix of whatever.

I also randomly take eggs out of the carton in no particular pattern. Embrace the chaos.

I don't have OCD and this still blows my mind...

 

[smog]

I can completely understand why people get obsessive about this.
As Jato mentioned, i also find it a pain to have screws with mismatching hex sizes all over a rig. Having to continually put down and pick up drivers is inefficient And mentally tiring.
I also prefer consistency on in color across a rig will typically opt for black hardware. That said i do use Silver to match up on Silver materials, usually.

This reminds me, I really need to order some bulk hardware.

 

[HumboldtEF]

I will mix screw colors but only if its symmetric lol

My weakness however is screw length. I have a pretty big assortment of screws but still I find myself frequently buying screws just to get the right length on projects.

 

[high plains drifter]

I can completely understand why people get obsessive about this.
As Jato mentioned, i also find it a pain to have screws with mismatching hex sizes all over a rig. Having to continually put down and pick up drivers is inefficient And mentally tiring.
I also prefer consistency on in color across a rig will typically opt for black hardware. That said i do use Silver to match up on Silver materials, usually.

This reminds me, I really need to order some bulk hardware.

I'm like this not just in RC applications, but for almost all projects around the house. So many times I've replaced a light fixture or some such thing and had to paint the silver/ raw hardware black to match the black or white fixture.

In full-size automotive ( mostly Jeeps) as in RC, there have been many times that I've painted stainless or zinc hardware bolt heads, black. Most times it's on bolts that go into or around chassis and bumper attachments. I don't want to advertise aesthetically that "this is indeed a bolt-on part!" lol. Easier with 1:1 than with RC since a couple passes of a rattle-can gets it done quickly.

I'd rather the screws color-match with the corresponding part but if for some reason I have to use silver screws to attach a black part then so be it... as long as all the hardware involved match each other. Again with RC, as with 1:1, any hardware along the chassis rails I'd prefer to be black to match the chassis or be hidden, but that doesn't always work out.

And I completely agree with the same hex-head driver being a big deal with all this as well. That's a significant part of the whole mismatched topic. No way that I could deal with having four servo screws not being the same hex size. That would drive me nuts. On any given rig, I can deal with a minimum amount of different hex-head sizes but at the very least it's most important to me that whatever individual parts or specific sections are utilizing the same hex heads.

 

[high plains drifter]

I will mix screw colors but only if its symmetric lol

My weakness however is screw length. I have a pretty big assortment of screws but still I find myself frequently buying screws just to get the right length on projects.

Same with length. In a pinch I'll cut screws to get the length matched to the other screw(s) but I don't like to go that route in most instances. Plus I don't like having to sacrifice a longer screw since they're typically harder to come by.

 

[HumboldtEF]

I have a 3D printed jig just for grinding screws down to size

 

[Gula]

I havent bought hardware "black oxide" in 10 or more years. Back then you could buy about 100 of any size in M3 cap/button/flat head 6 to 12 mm for about $2 or less on ebay and McMaster Carr. I once spent about $100 back then and have had them in lengths from 6mm to 50mm in all flavors and full or partial threads.

I hate cutting or grinding screws, although I've done it in a pinch. How does the jig fare? Id like to see it

I do however try to make sure all my hardware is hex, as some older and tamiya models are still Phillips head, and I'll switch that over or build it with out the Phillips screws.

 

[BJoe]

In that regard, I'm not overly obsessive. I don't care too much if I have to replace certain parts with other parts that don't match up 100% but if it's going to be under load or needs to have the same torque ( equally front to back/ side to side or all the way across)... or if it's going to be seen, then I don't want one piece of hardware to be overly corroded or out of spec or make the project look pieced together... unless that's the look I'm actually going for.

I'll periodically go through my hardware and throw out parts that are a little bent, have slightly stripped heads, are heavily oxidized, etc. I recently needed to make some room in a couple bins ( coarse screws and machine screws) and so I decided to pull out anything with flat-screwdriver heads. Unfortunately I just didn't have the heart to throw em out so now I have an extra bin for all my old-school screws... that I'm pretty sure I'll never use lol.

On my SCX-10, it started as an AX-10 Scorpion Kit that I converted to a SCX-10, it was just thrown together with what ever I had laying around during the conversion. My Wheely Kings and Stampede are kinda like that too, but those were mainly screw replacements that randomly happen over time as the mods happened and decided to lose the Phillips Head screws in those.