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Tee Nut Tips

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vertx View Drop Down
Young Croc
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    Posted: 15 July 2022 at 3:07am
Some helpful tips I've learnt over the years working with tee nuts (that I wish I'd known from the start!!):

- Use the woofer, or a woofer frame, to pull in each tee nut into the rear of the baffle. Hammering them in from the rear can flatten/ruin the teeth, plus they may end up off-centre and give you grief sending a bolt into them.

- Add a dab of glue (I like PUs) around the edge of the nut/teeth so hold them in - there's nothing more annoying then getting a threat stuck and it tearing it out from behind the baffle and causing you to get out a drill bit or angle grinder to get it out.

- For heavier tee nuts i.e M8 + also add a pair of stitching screws on the rear of the baffle tee nut to have further mechanical holding of the nut

- For problematic bolts/nuts that have to come in at an angle due to not being fully aligned, use some bolt grease/machine grease on the bolt so it slides in with less resistance

- If the bolt gets stuck in the tee nut thread, sometimes you can get the bolt head up high enough to use an angle grinder to cut off the head and let the tee nut drop down into the enclosure. Sometimes you can drill straight through the bolt (for smaller bolts M6 and less) to get out the tee nut (may require a few extra drill bits).

- There seems to be a pretty noticeable difference in cheep tee nuts having the teeth bend/break/threat stuck, vs well made tee nuts.

What have you learnt over the years working with tee nuts? 


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote Norseman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 July 2022 at 6:58am
them off and replace them with threaded inserts

by Josh
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fat_brstd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 July 2022 at 7:29am
Use a G-Clamp to drive them into the hole, it is way better to push them into place than pull them through, you will get less distortion of the nut and a better finish.

If you want to go all out make a double thick baffle and put the T-Nuts in between the panels so they can't get pushed out
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JonB67 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 July 2022 at 5:13pm
Originally posted by Norseman Norseman wrote:

them off and replace them with threaded inserts

by Josh

Same here. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tinnitus Rex Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 July 2022 at 5:45pm
Originally posted by JonB67 JonB67 wrote:

Originally posted by Norseman Norseman wrote:

them off and replace them with threaded inserts

by Josh

Same here. 

So concise it deserves a T-Shirt
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote ceharden Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 July 2022 at 7:12pm
The first thing to do is make sure you are drilling the holes the right size, in the right place and perpendicular to the surface.  I normally go with about half a mm smaller than the external dimension of the tee-nut.  I rarely get any issues with them coming loose because the wood grips the barrel as well as the spikes.  You can get longer tee-nuts too which help a lot because the thread goes almost all the way through the wood.

One advantage of pulling them in is that you will soon find any tee-nuts with dodgy threads and either the process will clean them up or you can replace before fitting a driver.  Always oil/grease the bolt when pulling them in which also leaves a coating inside the thread for when you fit the driver.  I recommend using a couple of large washers rather than the driver itself.  You don't want to deform or crack the chassis by applying too much force in one location.  That said I often still hammer them but only if fitting them before assembling the baffle into the cab.





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote fatfreddiescat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 July 2022 at 8:21pm
Originally posted by ceharden ceharden wrote:

The first thing to do is make sure you are drilling the holes the right size, in the right place and perpendicular to the surface.  I normally go with about half a mm smaller than the external dimension of the tee-nut.  I rarely get any issues with them coming loose because the wood grips the barrel as well as the spikes.  You can get longer tee-nuts too which help a lot because the thread goes almost all the way through the wood.

One advantage of pulling them in is that you will soon find any tee-nuts with dodgy threads and either the process will clean them up or you can replace before fitting a driver.  Always oil/grease the bolt when pulling them in which also leaves a coating inside the thread for when you fit the driver.  I recommend using a couple of large washers rather than the driver itself.  You don't want to deform or crack the chassis by applying too much force in one location.  That said I often still hammer them but only if fitting them before assembling the baffle into the cab.








Saved me writing a load thereSmile

Just to add a couple of things to your comments: 
I use a pillar drill to drill the holes if possible.
Some T nuts have a chamfer that makes them easier to guide in.
Loctite Blue or similar helps stop corrosion of the threads.

Inserts can be useful insurance if the T nut cannot be replaced once fitted but not sure I would feel comfortable using them to fit castors.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote njw Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 July 2022 at 9:02pm
Originally posted by Tinnitus Rex Tinnitus Rex wrote:

Originally posted by JonB67 JonB67 wrote:

Originally posted by Norseman Norseman wrote:

them off and replace them with threaded inserts

by Josh

Same here. 

So concise it deserves a T-Shirt
  

 ^^What they said. I refurbed some old cabs a while back and had hell with the t-nuts, quite a few of them just span in the wood as I tried to remove them, luckily I was able to remove a handle and get my hand inside the cab and grip them with a pliers but it was a bitch of a job, I replaced them with inserts. Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bob4 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 July 2022 at 7:37am
Especially if working with plywood, Pre-drill a small hole for each spike.

Makes for a much easier insertion process, and helps with preventing bending of spikes and rotation. 

Mark the position of the holes by aligning the tee nut to your liking and  lightly tapping with a hammer

+1 on lubrication
+1 on glueing (i use plain wood glue)

And to make sure you don't bodge the bolt and/or the threads of the tee nut,   when fitting the bolt, turn it first anticlockwise, until you feel the bolt jump over the start of the thread -> start turning clockwise
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 1ManSoundsystem Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 August 2022 at 3:42am
never ever use t-nuts in dead spaces. meaning, u press them in the perimeter of the speaker opening and glue on the last sheet and close off the volume where u used the t-nut, with no chance but heavy destruction to regain access in case it would fall off its place. dont do that. the feeling inside u suffer when u have to get out the holesaw and cut open your almost finished cab.... it will haunt you :-(

fucc these abominations and use threaded insert as mentioned befo... its just not worth it. t-nuts might get pressed in not 100% vertically, bolts used to tighten the speaker might cross-thread, u wiggle around, t-nut comes out, its just insane. i dont use them anymore.  greetings



Edited by 1ManSoundsystem - 04 August 2022 at 3:42am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SamV Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 September 2022 at 11:17pm
Absolute best thing use in my opinion is a hollow wall anchor gun. Pulls it in tight and true with zero spinning.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RoadRunnersDust Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 September 2022 at 11:45pm
Single most useful tip I’ve ever found with T-nuts is to put a couple of 3mm wood screws in after fitting them tight up into the divot of the wings/teeth. The shank of the screw stops them spinning and the head of the screw stops them backing out.

Either copper-slip grease or blue loctite (especially the stuff that comes like a pritt stick as it’s thicker and you seem to get a better coating in the threads) the bolts before mounting your driver.

I also find using an impact driver to be very useful in freeing up old t-nuts & bolts as it breaks the corrosion bond with the impacts instead of just applying torque and spinning the nut out of the wood as you would with a ratchet or normal drill.

My experience with insert nuts has been that they’re more likely to just rip straight out of the wood or round out when being fitted and then be impossible to seat properly or recover from the cabinet. If they were genuinely a better solution I can’t help but feel you’d see them more in commercially built cabinets too?
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