Stainless steel SUS304 has been inexpensive for ages, and when you file down the head it shines brilliantly ☆ with improved texture.
But as you get older…
After all, iron is the way to go～iron is the best～
Setting aside the complicated stuff, I’m just iron LOVE (ﾟДﾟ)
Why I came to dislike SUS304.
When it breaks, it’s seriously the worst (ﾟДﾟ)
I have a sharp drill bit specifically for stainless steel.
But even using that, it’s surprisingly difficult. It’s quite a challenge.
It’s okay if it’s M8 or larger, but when it gets down to M6 or smaller, it becomes quite painful.
Once you start, it becomes a race that doesn’t end until completion. If you can at least see the finish line it’s fine, but sometimes things progress in an even worse direction.
With iron, it’s much better than stainless, significantly better.
Especially for engine parts, it’s best to avoid it. If you do use it, please make sure to lubricate it well before use.
There’s damage from corrosion, but also the risk of the bolt shank remaining after a crash.
If it looks sketchy, maybe it’s better to leave it alone? That might be the safer approach.
Doesn’t attract to magnets (occasionally has slight magnetic properties)
Basically it doesn’t attract to magnets, but composition changes can sometimes give it magnetic properties.
However, compared to iron, it’s way weaker.
Oh! (ﾟДﾟ)
Rolling away～rolling along～
Have you ever achieved a hole-in-one (´∀｀*) ｳﾌﾌ?
If you haven’t, you will eventually, so be careful.
If it’s inside the engine, that’s the worst. It’s truly terrible.
*I don’t have that experience, thankfully…
But I have dropped bolts without fairings or under the tank.
Just when I finally finished putting all the bodywork on…
rolling away～
With such a nice thin magnet, if you insert it where the bolt fell, you can usually fish it out.
No matter how careful you are, sometimes you drop things. At moments like that, you really think, ah～I’m so glad it was iron～
Rust is the owner’s responsibility
All my customers’ bolts are basically iron.
I replace them without hesitation.
But there’s a huge difference between people whose bolts are heavily rusted and those whose aren’t.
Even when people say electroless nickel rusts, some people’s bolts don’t rust at all…
I often think, isn’t that just because you’re being careless with them?
To put it plainly, it’s not that the bolt “broke” but that it was “broken”.
It’s not that it “rusted” but that it was “allowed to rust”, isn’t it?
If you live in a coastal area, some rust is unavoidable. But depending on how you store and maintain them, durability is completely different.
I’m tired of filing (/・ω・)/
It’s a cycle of running out of stock and making more.
Since I batch the work, it’s at least 100 bolts at a time… It’s such tedious, boring work.
Iron is helpful because I can use it as-is.
I just order, receive, and sort them. Please go with iron!
For high-stress areas, stainless is a no-go
What surprised me most was that stainless steel bolts were used around the monoshock linkage because of rust concerns.
Naturally they were bent pretty badly, and while it was good they came out…
Since I’m the quiet type, I announced without explaining the reason: “They were bent, so I switched them to iron using OEM parts.”
I was surprised that people actually use them anyway.
Even when things like this happen, I’m amazed thinking “it actually runs pretty well”…
Learning always comes from the opposite perspective, right?
