Table of Contents

- Fasteners

We offer a complete line of standard and specialty fasteners.

Our fastener offering covers industrial applications including truck body, utility body, and trailers; fire, rescue, and emergency vehicles; industrial equipment, buses, rail cars, and the marine industry.

Products range from standard nuts, screws, bolts, and washers to specialty structural bolts, rivets, inserts, weld fasteners, and fastening tools. Austin Hardware® is a Tier-1 Master Distributor of Huck fasteners and tools.

For a more in-depth look at Austin Hardware® and fasteners, click here:

Fastener Series Blog 1 (1)

- Threaded Fasteners

Threaded fasteners are found in commercial, industrial, and vehicular applications that are too numerous to count.

Types of Threaded Fasteners:

  • Bolts
  • Nuts
  • Screws
  • Rods

The primary benefits of threaded fasteners include:

  • Able to join non-metals and dissimilar materials
  • Simple to install
  • Commonly found installation tools
  • Easy disassembly
  • Pre-threaded holes not required for self-tapping screws
  • Environmentally and user-friendly

Click here to learn more about Threaded Fasteners:

Threaded Fasteners Blog Series

- Rivets

Today, rivets are used in one form or another in all types of manufacturing, from jewelry and cookware to trucks, boats, aircraft, and bridges.

The most common types of rivets include: 

  • Solid
  • Tubular
  • Semi-tubular
  • Blind
  • Drive
  • Split

Click here to learn more about their common uses and industries:

Rivets (2)

- Clinch Fasteners

Clinch or self-clinching fasteners are typically used for metal assemblies that may be too thin for tapping or in applications where it’s not feasible to employ stamped or extruded threads.

Self-Clinching Fasteners are found in household appliances, electronics, medical equipment, telecom equipment, automotive and transportation markets, and many other industrial applications.

While there are innumerable variations of self-clinching fasteners, three of the primary types include:

Click Here to learn more about Self-Clinching Fasteners:

Clinch Fastener Blogs (1)

- Nails

If you’re in the construction or woodworking business, you’re using nails every day. Homeowners often find themselves looking for just the right nail for their DIY projects.

According to Steave Klein, National Sales Manager for Fasteners with Austin Hardware®, “Nails are the simplest of fasteners both in design and how they’re made. One end has a head; the other end is sharp, and they’re available in different sizes and materials. That said, there are many different types, so just as with any fastener, the application should determine the nail you choose.” 

Frequently, for jobs requiring a large volume of nails and those where the space to apply them with a traditional hammer is limited, nail guns are used.

There are two primary types of Nail guns:

  • Angled
  • Straight.


Click Here to learn more about Nails and Installation Tools:

Nail Blog

- Pins

Industrial Pins are an essential type of fastener with many uses. They are designed to resist shear and torsional forces.

Engineering360 defines industrial pins as “… varieties of fastening hardware meant to couple, align, mount, assemble or penetrate two work pieces. The operation of the pin depends on design and employment…” 

Click Here to learn more about Pins:

Pins main image

- Retaining Rings

Retaining Rings can be an alternative to traditional threaded fasteners for holding components in a housing or on a shaft.

They’re installed inside a housing or bore, or into a groove on a shaft to create a shoulder which retains an assembly.

The four main styles include:

  • Tapered Section
  • Constant Section
  • Spiral
  • Circular Push-On

Click here to learn more about Retaining Rings:

Retaining Clips Blog Banner

 

- Washers

Washers are another critical member of the wide world of fasteners. They’re certainly not sexy and can be overlooked at times. However, they play a crucial role in the function and longevity of the majority of products using mechanical fasteners.

Like most fasteners, there are many different types and sub-types, with the application ultimately driving the appropriate selection.

Click here to learn more about Washers:

Washers Blog Banner

 

- Structural Fasteners

The meaning of the term "structural fastener" is somewhat ambiguous. Here's what it used to mean:

As recently as a January 2020 article by ITA Fasteners, structural fasteners are described as being, "… characterized by strong, heavy-duty materials that facilitate the construction of structures employing steel to steel connections. They are an ideal choice … for connecting one metal structure to another." 

In this article learn more about:

  • Structural Blind Fasteners
  • Lockbolts

Click here to learn more about Structural Fasteners:

Structural Fasteners Blog Banner

- Bolts

Like most fasteners, bolts are available in a wide variety of styles and materials to meet the needs of a world of applications.

Steel bolts are rated and specified by numerous certifying bodies, but the two primary associations in the United States are ASTM International (formerly American Society for Testing and Materials) and the SAE International (formerly Society for Automotive Engineers). ASTM standards for bolts and fasteners pertain primarily to construction applications, while SAE deals with machinery and automotive applications as well as those for original equipment manufacturing.

Click here to learn more about Bolts:

Bolts Blog Banner

- Solid Rivets

Wikipedia citing notes that, “Solid rivets are one of the oldest and most reliable types of fasteners, having been found in archaeological findings dating back to the Bronze Age"

Solid rivets are one of the strongest permanent fasteners and are commonly used in applications where safety and reliability are of the utmost importance. This is why they are used frequently in the aircraft and auto industries.

Click here to learn more about Solid Rivets:

Solid Rivets Blog Banner

- Self-Clinching Nuts

Self-clinching fasteners are typically used for metal assemblies that may be too thin for tapping, or in applications where it’s not feasible to employ stamped or extruded threads. 

They’re found in applications including: household appliances and electronics to medical, telecom, and automotive equipment.

  • Household appliances
  • Electronics
  • Medical Equipment
  • Telcom Equipment
  • Automotive equipment

Click here to learn more about Self-Clinching Nuts:

Self Clinching Nuts Blog Banner

- Grooved Pins

A grooved pin is a solid pin, similar to a dowel, except with swaged grooves (or flutes) that run vertically. 

Ordinarily, there are three grooves that can vary in length. They can run the entire way down the pin to as little as just one-third the length.

Applications include:

  • Locking Collars
  • Linkage or Hinge Pin
  • Valve T-Handle
  • Spring Anchor
  • Roller and Stop Pins

Click here to learn more about Grooved Pins:

Grooved Pins Blog Banner

- E-Clips

E-Clips are a radially assembled tapered section retaining ring. With three points of contact they provide a larger surface for retainingand yield a higher thrust load capacity than other types of external rings. 

Retaining rings are designed to restrict the movement of mating components and keep them securely in place during operation. By creating a shoulder to retain the assembly, retaining rings are a cost-effective solution, reducing the need for threaded fasteners or machining shoulders on to components.

Click here to learn more about E-Clips:

E-clips Blog Banner

 

- Lock Washers

Lock washers work on the nut side of the fastener, supplying added tension to an assembly to help prevent nuts and bolts from turning, slipping, and coming loose due to vibration and torque. ​

Thus, their use is common in the transportation industry and on commercial products such as washing machines where vibration is a significant factor.

Click here to learn more about E-Clips:

Lock Washer Blog Banner - 2-1

 

- Lockbolts

lockbolt is a 2-piece, permanent, mechanically locked structural fastener. Their primary benefit is that they offer long-lasting vibration resistance and won't loosen even under the most extreme vibration.

This is because an installed, fully swaged (cold-formed collar on the grooved pin) lockbolt has no gaps between the grooves of the pin and the swaged collar, as found in threaded fasteners such as nuts and bolts. It's essentially a best-of-both-worlds hybrid of a bolt and a rivet.

Click here to learn more about Lockbolts:

Lockbolts Blog Banner-1

- Blind Rivets

What is a blind rivet? Simply put, it's a rivet that can be installed from just one side of the application, thus the term "blind."

The blind rivet was originally developed as a replacement fastener for solid rivets where service repair was required. Blind rivets also trace their roots to the aircraft industry. 

4-PART SERIES:

Part 1 - History / Two Most Important Factors to Maximize Joint Integrity

Part 2 - Additional Critical Factors to Determine Joint Integrity / Rivet Selection / Head Styles

Part 3 - The Most Common Blind Types and Their Functional Differences

Part 4 - Other Variations of Blind Rivets

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- Blind Bolts

Blind Bolts, such as the Huck BOM®, can bridge the gap between structural blind rivets and lockbolts.

The BOM® is a blind, oversized (ranging from around 5/8” to ¾” diameter), mechanically locked fastener. The unique push and pull installation design allow for the ultimate in locking strength from a blind-side installation.

Click here to learn more about Blind Bolts:

Blind Bolts Banner

 

- Fastener Nuts

Your Complete Guide to Fastener Nuts - Two Part Series

Fastening Nuts have a threaded hole and are used along with a mating bolt to attach two or more parts. Most of us think a lot more about the bolt than the nut for our applications, but they're no less important. In these two posts we'll break down the most common standard nuts, as well as take a look at locknuts.

Click here for Part 1 on Standard Nuts

Click here for Part 2 on Locknuts

Fastener Nut Banner

 

Looking for a Fastener source?  You've come to the right place!

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"Since my company entered into a vendor managed inventory program with Austin, our service levels and in-stock position on our parts have never been better.  We consolidated 23 suppliers down to one, Austin. 

Now we only have one invoice to review, one shipment to check in and we are in stock 99% of the time!  Austin has one of the best customer service teams we work with, I would recommend this program to anyone who needs to take control of their inventory and be sure to have the parts you need on the shelves!"

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Gary from Ohio

"I wanted to send along some great news. We have experienced a few problems with shipping over the years, but the solutions that you put in place over the last few weeks have been very positive. On another note, Tom and Emma, the Vendor Managed Inventory team that I have been working with, have done a great job responding to concerns and questions in a timely fashion. That fact is another reason our VMI program is successful and getting stronger every day. Our overall numbers continue to increase and we are looking forward to the growth in 2017."
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Shawn from Texas