The pin is slipped over the axle, enclosing it in the pin's head, and the pin is inserted into a hole drilled through the front of the drawer. The pendant has a small axle in its back. Makers still use them, as they don't loosen as threaded fasteners often Pendants and some other types of pulls on the fronts of drawers. Cotter pins for furniture brassesįor hundreds of years, special brass split pins have been used to hold Similar pins for other applications have been sized in inches, by diameter and length.Ī source for crank cotter pins for bicycles. The cotter pins for bicycles are sized by the diameter of the shaft in millimeters, currently 8.0, 8.5, 9.0, and 9.5. If the threaded part protrudes more than a quarter inch, first hacksaw it off, otherwise it will buckle when you use the drift pin. Support the back face of the crank on an anvil, and drive the cotter out with a drift pin. If they aren't, the cotter pins are “mushed.” With the cranks horizontal, left crank to the rear, stand on both pedals and lunge to force them back into the same plane. Jobst Brandt suggests the following technique: Check to see if the cranks are really 180 degrees apart. Their function requires that they be made of a fairly soft, ductile steel.

Removing the pins can be much more difficult than installing them. The nut is tightened simply to hold the pin in place.

In the absence of such a tool, the cotter pin is installed by tapping it with a hammer. Special tools were once available to insert and remove these cotter pins. Installing the pin wedges the shaft against the sides of the hole and prevents it from turning. The cotter pin is inserted so that its flat faces the axle's flat. The axle is inserted into the hole so that the axle's flat is parallel to and facing the overlap. The crank has two holes, one for the axle and another at right angles to it for the cotter pin, with a slight, specified overlap. That particular use will be the basis of this description. They are used to secure a piece with a bored hole to a flatted shaft having the same diameter, for example, formerly, to hold the cranks of bicycles to their axle. In military standards, MS24665 has replaced AN380 and AN381.Ĭrank cotter pins are short shafts, threaded on one end, with a flat tapered so that the low end of the flat is at the threaded end of the pin. This error has led to deaths.Įxamples of industrial accidents involving cotter pins.

Because cotter pins are so readily available, workers are often tempted to replace some special pin that has failed with an.

In general, when a fastener must be safetied, properly installed safety wire is preferable to a cotter pin.

Always use the largest cotter pin that will fit the hole.

In some applications, the spread prongs can be a problem because they can catch on such things as pant legs. The prongs of hammerlock pins are spread by striking the head with a hammer. NominalĬotter pins are ordinarily secured by spreading the prongs. Which lengths are actually available varyīy, for example, the material from which the pin is made.

for all other styles, at the end of the shorter prong.

for hammerlock ends, at the farthest point of the longer prong.

for pins with miter or bevel point ends, at the end of the farthest point of both prongs.

The measurement begins at the point where the large end meets the hole into which the pin is inserted. The way the length of a cotter pin is measured depends on the style of the points. The sizes below 5/16 inch are intended to fit a hole 1/64 inch larger than the pin size for pins larger than that the pin and hole size are the same. American standard cotter pin sizes are in nominal fractional inches, starting at 1/32.

Watch band cotter pins