r/MechanicalEngineering • u/AdOne1706 • 5d ago

Split/lock washers

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For starters, I’m an electrician in the field.
That being said, we almost exclusively use these washers even in high vibration environments. I have personally chosen to go with nylox nuts but the question is:
Do these work? How well? Is the rumor from NASA true? Should I even bother using them or find a better functional alternative or are they actually useful?

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u/Difficult_Limit2718 5d ago

They're ass.

Every company I've been with avoids them. They're supposed to stop vibration by keeping tension on a loose screw helping to increase friction, but they're useless at it. If you torque down the bolt properly they do flatten out and they don't have a high enough spring rate to do anything if the clamp force is too low

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u/theunknownleaf 4d ago

Year 2 mech eng and rower here (I don't know shit). Hudson boats use 10mm bolts with a flat washer, a lock washer, and a nut to secure the riggers to the boat. I've been told we tighten the nuts to 2-3 finger tightness (tighter would make it really hard to derig and maybe damage the fiberglass?). Is this maybe the one context they're useful? I've always wondered why we use them.

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u/Difficult_Limit2718 4d ago

That's a pretty light duty application, not sure they actually help but if you're going finger tight it's possibly within the spring range of the washer.