Global Fastener News

It started with a phone call to the director of engineering technology at the Industrial Fasteners Institute. “I can find the information on NE style nylon lock nuts, but where do I find the information on NTE style lock nuts …” the caller asks Joe Greenslade.

Greenslade found the caller was correct.  ASME B18.16.6 contained only information on one of the seven styles of nylon insert lock nuts.  A revision of B18.16.6 was soon undertaken.  The result was an expansion of the standard to include all available styles of nylon insert and all-metal lock nuts and the replacement of IFI 100/107 in early 2014.

The extensive revision of B18.16.6 is one example of changes in 49 of the 99 fastener standards in the upcoming 9th edition of the IFI’s Inch Fastener Standards.

The new text will be published by July 2014.

When Greenslade gets a technical question separately from multiple users, it is a clue to a standards problem.  From there it may take three or four years for the appropriate committees to find a resolution.

Greenslade said most of the changes in the 9th edition are minor, “but significant enough to be made.”

For example, “the chemical requirements for SAE J429, Grade 8 have been tweaked to align it with the ISO 898-1, property class 10.9 materials so producers can make both inch and metric fasteners from the same materials simplifying producers raw material inventories,” he explained.

The IFI used to update the Standards every decade or so. But changes in technology mean both more changes in fasteners and it is easier to update the text. The 1,146-page 8th edition was published in 2011.

Just a decade ago, each new edition of the IFI’s Standards required three people and took years to compile and prepare for publication.

In those days the IFI had to order large quantities of the heavy text because of the printing technology.  Today’s technology enables small print runs allowing more frequent updating without needing to scrap huge quantities of left over books as in the past. Now the master version is digitally updated perpetually.

The 2014 Standards is ready to print except for a few impending standards committee decisions, Greenslade told GlobalFastenerNews.com.  It will be $345.

The 9th Edition Standards book will again be available in both the printed and the multi-user digital version.

Greenslade keeps his seven-pound print edition on a shelf by his desk, but actually uses the digital edition for his own searches. “Information is so much easier to find data to share it with others by ‘snipping’,” he explains.
Greenslade predicts that by 2020 the IFI book will only be available in a digital edition.

Subscriptions to the online version of the traditional print edition – IFI Technology Connection – are accelerating, Greenslade reported.

The Technology Connection has both inch and metric fastener standards online in one location.

“Users find all relevant information on a given fastener in seconds using pull down menus, in addition to having many other technical tools and resources available,” Greenslade explained.

The other benefit to the Connection is that standards data is updated immediately and thus provides the users with the latest information.

What happens to leftover 8th edition paper edition copies?  Greenslade said the IFI donates them to college engineering departments across the U.S.

For information on the upcoming 9th edition and ordering: Click on Online Store at indfast.org.

Related Links:

• Industrial Fasteners Institute