Tri Groove Security Nuts

Conical Trident Nuts Designed to Resist Tampering

Tri Groove security nuts feature a tapered diameter, making the nuts resistant to gripping devices. They are installed using a special Tri Groove socket, which grips the indentations along the outside of the fastener to turn the nut along a thread.

Tri Groove Nuts are commonly used with driver-less fasteners, such as carriage bolts or concrete anchors for a secure assembly. If the nut is not easily accessible, the fastener assembly will be harder to be tampered with. Security Nuts are commonly used in public outdoor applications, including campsites, parks, playgrounds, benches, cars, and rooftop tents. Stainless Steel Security Nuts are perfect for this type of application since they are rust and corrosion-resistant.

Tri Groove Security Nuts are available in Zamak 5 Zinc Alloy and corrosion resistant 316 Stainless Steel. UNC Coarse thread sizes available in diameters up to 5/8 inch.

Marine Grade Stainless Steel

The 316 grade of Stainless steel is suitable for highly corrosive environments, such as in saltwater or marine applications. 316 Stainless steel is equivalent to A4 stainless steel.

Zamak Zinc Alloy

Zamak is a zinc alloy family. The most common, Zamak 3, is an alloy of zinc and aluminum and the de facto choice for die casting. Zamak 5 is the same as Zamak 3 but with added copper for greater strength, hardness, and corrosive resistance at the expense of ductility. Zamak alloy has an excellent balance of physical and mechanic properties, superb castability, and long-term dimensional stability.

How to Install & Remove TriGroove Tamper Proof Nuts

Installing and Removing Tri-Groove Tamper Proof Security Nuts
Tri-Groove Nut Installation & Removal Transcript

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Bob: This one I have, this is called a tri groove nut. It has three grooves on it: one, two, three. There's three grooves on here. This is a security nut. This is to prevent anybody from trying to put a wrench on it. It's very hard to put a wrench on this nut.

You could probably put a vice grip on it and it'll hold it and you'll get it off but it's really a deterrent for anybody walking by who wants to try and take something. That's what it's mainly used for and it takes a special socket that goes over this nut and locks into those three grooves to be able to tighten it on.

Now I'm going to demonstrate the installation of a tri-groove nut. This is a security nut so if you want to keep something secure, such as the television, or whatever it may be from anybody removing it.

Tri-groove nuts have these three grooves and you need a special tool or socket to install it. You see they have those three grooves in it. So I'm going to demonstrate this right now, an installation of it.

I'm putting it through my 3/8 steel here. I'm going to screw it on so it snugs up and I'm going to tighten it up with this special tool. I need an adjustable on the other side. There we go.

Bear with me a minute...there we go. So I'm going to wedge it against the vice so I don't have to hold two hands. With these you can only do so much torquing with it cause otherwise it wants to skip out.

Ok, that's the installation of a tri-groove nut. You can't put anything on this to take it off. It's all round. You have to have this tool to take it off. That's what's key to this nut. You can put this where you can't get to the head.

There are installations where you won't be able to access the head so you can't put anything on it. If you can then you would use a security screw with another type of security fastener or wrench to put it in place like a Torx with a pin in the center or something along those lines.

They also have tri-groove bolts that are available. I'm not sure if we have them on our website yet but they are available. You can't take a wrench like this and take it off because what happens is, it's been designed to where you just slide.

Now let's try the ultimate way to get this off: this is a vice grip. So if anything was going to take it off, it's going to be this. So let's see if we can do it. I haven't tried this but I'm gonna give it a shot. I'm trying to grab it on the top ridge of it and I'm gonna try and lock the vise grip; see if it holds.

Nah, see what happens once I apply pressure to it? It starts to slide off. So let's see if I can get it this way...no. There's not enough lip on the top to be able to use the vise grip to grab it. Even this way I can't grab it. So there's basically no way to get this off unless you have the tool. It's too smooth, there's nothing for the vice grip to grab. This is the tool, if you're going to use anything, to get this off.

You need the right tool, which is this: socket with the tri-grooves in the socket, and that would take it off and put it on. I'm going to take it off now. As you can see, you have the right tool...you can remove it.

And that's my demonstration of a tri-groove security nut.

FAQs

What are tri groove nuts?

Tri Groove nuts are a type of security nut that features a tapered diameter, making the nuts resistant to gripping devices. They are installed using a special Tri Groove socket, which grips the indentations along the outside of the fastener to turn the nut along a thread. They are designed to only be removable with their special tri-groove socket drivers.

What are tamper-resistant nuts?

Tamper resistant nuts, otherwise known as security nuts, are pieces of hardware that function as a standard fastener nut. However, they are designed to be difficult, if not impossible, to remove unless a specific driver or heavy tools are used. They're used for anti-theft applications.

How do you remove security nuts?

Security nuts are not designed to be removed. If they were, they wouldn't make very good security nuts! That being said, if they must be removed, one option would be to use a grinder and cut grooves into the sides of the security nut so that you could grip it with some pliers or vise grips. That method can work for shear nuts and tri-groove nuts but require power tools and likely damage the material's surface.

Is 304 or 316 stainless better?

316 stainless steel is better in most ways over 304 stainless steel. 316 Stainless has excellent corrosion resistance, strength, and hardness and is well suited to marine applications. However, it's much more expensive than 304 and is not as formable as 304 either.

What is Zamak used for?

Zamak is used in many applications such as plumbing fittings, zippers, staplers, handles, locks, die-cast toys, sheet metal tooling, automotive parts, and some firearms, to name a few.