Sourcing Metric Bronze Fasteners

At Fair Wind Fasteners, we sometimes receive inquiries about metric standard silicon bronze nuts, bolts, and machine screws. Sourcing them in metric sizes can be incredibly challenging. The reason is simple: silicon bronze fasteners are a niche product, and the demand for metric sizes is even smaller, making them difficult to find in the market.

The Niche Market of Silicon Bronze Fasteners

Silicon bronze fasteners occupy a very specialized niche within a huge fastener market. Known for their excellent resistance to corrosion, especially in saltwater and marine applications, they are preferred by many for projects where long-term durability is essential. However, the niche nature of these fasteners means that they are typically manufactured in limited quantities, and solely in imperial sizes.

The demand for metric bronze fasteners, including metric bronze nuts, metric bronze bolts, and metric bronze machine screws, is extremely low, but we do get the odd phone call from a frustrated customer looking for them every now and then. As a result, manufacturers are reluctant to produce them to stock, given the high cost of materials and production involved. Silicon bronze itself is a costly material, and the quantity minimums just to get the silicon bronze rod or wire in are high, which further increases costs. For this reason, metric bronze fasteners simply aren't ever manufactured for general stock.

Components with Metric Bronze Fasteners

Decades ago, metric bronze fasteners were occasionally manufactured when bronze fasteners were more commonly used. Some bronze components, particularly those from older or specialized equipment, still use these fasteners. This creates a frustrating situation for those needing replacements, as finding a compatible fastener can feel impossible. The scarcity of these fasteners is compounded by the fact that some manufacturers continue to order custom runs of just one specific metric bronze machine screw (for example) to fit their specific thru-hull fitting, electrical bus bar, or bronze porthole leaving their customers in a bind when a replacement is needed.

Custom Manufacturing: The Solution for Metric Bronze Fasteners

At Fair Wind Fasteners, we understand better than most the difficulties that arise from needing these hard-to-find metric bronze fasteners. That’s why we offer a solution: custom manufacturing runs. If you require custom bronze fasteners in metric sizes, we can facilitate a custom production run tailored to your specific needs. This is not limited to metric sizes; we also accommodate requests for bronze fasteners with British Standard Fine (BSF) and British Standard Whitworth (BSW) threads, which are equally rare in the market as well as rare or non-existent shapes and sizes.

However, it’s important to note that custom manufacturing is not without its challenges. The primary cost driver in custom manufacturing is the setup of the machines required to produce the fasteners. This setup process is time-consuming and expensive, making small quantity production runs costly. As the quantity of fasteners increases, the cost per unit becomes more reasonable. Therefore, if you’re considering a custom run, it’s always more economical to order in larger quantities.

A Practical Solution: Re-Threading to Imperial Sizes

Given the difficulty and cost of sourcing metric bronze fasteners as well as the

high cost if only a few parts are needed, our recommendation is to re-thread to an imperial-sized fastener whenever possible. Imperial sizes are more readily available, and using them can save you time, money, and frustration in the long run. By converting your components to accept imperial-sized bronze fasteners, you ensure that replacements will be easier to find in the future, eliminating the need for costly custom runs.

Why Choose Fair Wind Fasteners?

We stock more bronze fasteners on our shelf than any other company in the world, and silicon bronze fasteners are our specialty! Our expertise in the marine fastener market, combined with our ability to facilitate custom manufacturing, makes us the go-to source for the niche marine grade fasteners that can't be found at your local big box store, including many bronze fasteners that can't be found anywhere else at all!

 

If it's imperial sized bronze nuts or bolts you need then we have them on the shelf, ready to ship within 1 business day. For metric bronze nuts, bolts, or any niche bronze fastener you need then get in touch and we'll get you a quote.