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NASA threaded fastener torque chart

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February 14, 2026, 10:06 PM
pbslinger
NASA threaded fastener torque chart
This has many thread diameters, pitches, thread lengths in different materials. Hope it is handy for some here. I didn't imagine such an all encompassing reference existed. Lots of thread sizes and materials used in firearms.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/cita...oads/20170003491.pdf
February 15, 2026, 12:59 AM
KMitch200
Haven’t had a chance to really dig into it yet.
Thx pb!


--------
After the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box.
February 15, 2026, 08:18 AM
Hound Dog
i routinely twist to maximum allowable torquage.


Fear God and Dread Nought
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Jacky Fisher
February 15, 2026, 09:07 AM
dsiets
How could you be sure you used 16 foot-pounds of torque?
February 15, 2026, 09:54 AM
Rey HRH
I opened it and had to laugh at the title. Over 300 pages for torques for NONcritcical applications. This could only go one two two ways for the torque manual for CRITICAL applications - a 1200 page manual or a one sentence direction: see manual for noncritical applications in conjunction with a 3 foot cheater bar. Yes, I know the cheater bar won’t work that way but just the idea of using a cheater bar is up my alley as a Navy machinist mate.


"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
February 15, 2026, 10:55 AM
Lefty Sig
quote:
Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I opened it and had to laugh at the title. Over 300 pages for torques for NONcritcical applications. This could only go one two two ways for the torque manual for CRITICAL applications - a 1200 page manual or a one sentence direction: see manual for noncritical applications in conjunction with a 3 foot cheater bar. Yes, I know the cheater bar won’t work that way but just the idea of using a cheater bar is up my alley as a Navy machinist mate.


Critical torques are defined by clamp load, which is measured ultrasonically, either with an external gauge and magnetic transducer, or a "chipped" bolt with a strain gauge built it. You measure the bolt outside the part, then measure it again after it's fully tightened. Difference in length correlated to an external load test calibration of the bolt gives the clamp load.

If the bolt is not chipped (chips are common in low volume aerospace, but not in high volume automotive), we develop torque and angle processes that can reliably achieve the specified clamp load. Angle correlates much better to clamp load than torque, so you torque enough to fully seat the joint then turn a specified angle. It's a lot more complicated than that, but with modern DC electric feedback tools we can do it pretty well.