Drilling/Safety Wire

[Ope665]

I can’t seem to find a definitive answer or direction on drilling and safety wiring. So here are my questions to you folks:
What size holes should I drill to do the safety wiring?
What size wire do you use?
Best place to get safety wiring pliers?

Thank you
Lee

[BrianL]

https://fortnine.ca/en/catalogsearch/re ... ety%20wire

Fortnine or any other dealership or online store usually has what you need. You only need big enough holes to fit the safety wire. But the smaller bits break more often. When possible, using a drill press and cutting oil works really well. but "on bike" drilling is possible for certain nuts, just harder to do and easier to break bits. You get better the more you do. A 3/32's bit will be less prone to snapping than a 1/16th. For wire, I prefer the 0.032in Safety Wire.

If you prefer, small aircraft supply stores usually sell the safety wire cheaper. I think the rules state;"stainless"

https://www.aircraftsupply.com/safety-w ... -wire.html

I center punch the bolt/ nut, use cutting oil and drill away. The correct speed is very important and most hand drill motors can't spin these small bits fast enough. If I am hand drilling, I use a dremel tool and spin the bit @ 8~10,000 rpm. I can usually hand drill most bolts on a race bike and never remove them from the bike with a dremel tool. Having a drill press with enough RPM and a vise make it easy too!

[Justind97]

I don’t believe there’s a minimum size of wire.

I like .032. Good size and you can work well with it. Malan Co is what I use.

Princess auto for the spinner pliers


3/32 is a good hole Size as Brian said. I have found Cobalt bits to work amazingly well. And I second the drill press and vise. Definitely reduces the amount of bits that get broken. Canadian tire has cobalt bits for a reasonable price.

[Justind97]

Once upon a time these were $15...

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/ ... -p8434854e

Beats the $90 linked above

[pacomotorstuff]

KBC Tools in Mississauga sells cobalt drill bits at a reasonable price. They ship anyplace you can pay for and there are a couple of branch stores as well, that may be closer to you.
Nothing wrong with a 3/32 hole I guess, but if you're drilling an M6 (10mm wrench size) nut, not a lot of extra material to play with, so I stick with 1/16" (.062) holes for lockwire and use 3/32 holes for cotter pins when I have castellated nuts.
Aircraft Spruce among others, sells a nut jig to drill nuts for lock wire, so have a look at it. For bolt heads, I just cross drill, similar to what Justin said - drill press and cutting fluid, but I use a slotted vise to hold the bolt shaft level during drilling.
.032 is the most common lockwire I've seen on bikes, but you'll also need some .022 or .025 to lockwire the drive chain master link per the rules book.
Go online to see what is the accepted procedure for lockwiring fasteners; the FAA manual has all of the different scenarios you'll ever likely need (and then some) and I believe the drawings and directions are free domain on the web. Don't be THAT GUY who gets turned away at tech because you had a nut or bolt lockwired in the wrong direction - yes, it happens, particularly when it's late at night, the day before a race, or you're upside down underneath your ride, trying to get the damned thing finished.
Also keep a supply of bandages in the shop because guaranteed, you'll be spiking yourself with the end of a bit of lockwire occasionally.
Have fun with your project.
Pat

[Stan Nicholson]

Do yourself (and others) a favour by always cutting the twisted end of the lock wire long enough to be able to turn it back on itself. End of spiking yourself on the sharp cut end.
Stan

[larry]

Good point, Stan. Tech will thank you!

[jerry smith]

Just one added note. Cut the wire square. Cut on an angle and it resembles a hypodermic needle. When you get stabbed no sense making it easier to go in deeper.
Jerry

[gary holden]

Just one added note. Cut the wire square. Cut on an angle and it resembles a hypodermic needle. When you get stabbed no sense making it easier to go in deeper.
Jerry

....and how did you come to know this valuable tip ,Jerry?

[Dave King]

Nobody has mentioned the other safety wiring essential, a first aid kit !
Dave.

[mccoy]

I can’t seem to find a definitive answer or direction on drilling and safety wiring. So here are my questions to you folks:
What size holes should I drill to do the safety wiring?
What size wire do you use?
Best place to get safety wiring pliers?

Thank you
Lee

Lee, FYI. I copied and edited this from my copy of the 28th edition of Machinery's Handbook.

Lock Wire Detail.
Wire ties are frequently used as a locking device for bolted connections to prevent loosening due to vibration and loading conditions, or Tampering.
No more than three (3) bolts may be tied together;
Lock wire must fill a minimum of 75% of the drilled hole provided for the use of lock wire;
Lock wire must be aircraft quality stainless steel of 0.508 mm (0.020 inch) diameter, 0.8128 mm (0.032 inch)
diameter, or 1.067 mm (0.042 inch) diameter.
Diameter of lock wire is determined by the thread size of the fastener to be safe-tied.
a) Thread sizes of 6 mm (0.25 inch) and smaller use 0.508 mm (0.020 inch) wire;
b) Thread sizes of 6 mm (0.25 inch) to 12 mm (0.5 inch) use 0.8128 mm (0.032 inch) wire;
c) Thread sizes > 12 mm (0.5 inch) use 1.067 mm (0.042 inch) wire;
d) The larger wire may be used in smaller bolts in cases of convenience, but smaller wire must not be used in larger fastener sizes.

Hope this helps.

[captainkcorb]

I (pretty much) stopped breaking drill bits doing this when I started leaving the bit slightly loose in the drill chuck. I did it by accident once and realized that instead of the drills breaking when they come out through the metal at an angle the loose chuck lets it slip instead of snapping. Back it out, spin the drill up and it goes right through.

Sounds dumb but it's been working for me.

Cheers,

B

[jerry smith]

Depending on bolt size to be drilled sometimes I centre punch it and drill perpendicular to the bolt with a 1/8" bit just deep enough to give me a shoulder then the 1/16" drill can't skid sideways when I drill on an angle.
Jerry

[MGill]

Once you’ve broken all the drill bits,
and drilled all the holes,
you’ll put the bolts in,
and the holes
will all be facing the wrong way.
Always pull one bolt to the next going clockwise.
After this much pain and effort, it truly is an art.
They say Tetanus shots are good for 5 years,
but I get a booster every time they ask.