BSF

[stuffedpike20]

Why are BSF bolts so expensive? A 1" 5/16 set screw seems to be about £1 on fleabay.

Surely the tooling is out there somewhere to make some reasonably priced ones?

[oliver90owner]

Probably because they are less common than the more ‘standard’ coarse sizes?

Maybe you are not buying from the most economical supplier?

Possibly a different grade bolt?

Metric chinese is likely the cheapest - but probably not the best (from many of the ebay suppliers).

Do remember that the largest cost is likely postage. Then there is picking and packing. Then ebay’s profit. Little wonder one bolt, bought at a time, is expensive.

[ianmack]

Probably because they are produced in very small numbers nowadays. I don’t know of any major industry that uses BSF now. Or conversely you might say that metric items seem cheap because of vast production volumes.

[philthehill]

The three main suppliers of BSF bolts used by me are:-
GWR Fasteners...............Oswestry.
Spalding Fasteners..........Spalding.
Balls Fasteners................Cheltenham.
I have always had a good and well priced service from the above.
Good quality fastenings with a tensile strength of 8.8 to 12.9 are not cheap but you do get what you pay for.
The tensile strength of cheap bolts in the main is unknown so could fail in the wrong application and at the wrong time.

[taupe]

I would add Namrick to that list.

If you use lots then a bulk pack like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271911167163 ... Swu4BVioxx

is best value for money and can often be bought at autojumbles etc...saving postage costs..

Taupe

[stuffedpike20]

Interesting... thanks folks.