Well Nuts

Well Nuts are removable rivet nuts made mostly out of EPDM rubber with a brass threaded portion on the inside. To install a weld nut, drill a hole and slide the weld nut into the hole with the flanged portion exposed. Then slide a machine screw of the correct size into the threading and tighten. As the machine screw is fastened, the rubber portion will deform and place a large amount of pressure on the bolt hole causing it to seal.

What Are Well Nuts Used For?

Well Nuts are extremely common in kayaks and other water-based applications to install something to the surface where leaking water may be a concern. They are also called rub nuts or rubber nuts. Although they are also commonly referred to as Rawlnuts or Rawl Nuts, this is a proprietary name. Well nuts are mostly made from rubber with a brass internal threaded nut making them ideal for fresh water and salt water environments. Well nuts are commonly used with bolts or machine screws to fasten two this materials together, or to anchor items to thin materials.

Benefits of Well Nuts

  • Easy to install
  • Easily removable
  • Can be installed into blind holes
  • Minimizes vibration and shocks
  • Vibration isolation helps to prevent rattle and pull-out
  • Can act as a buffer to prevent Galvanic Corrosion
  • Forms a water-tight seal
  • Safe for saltwater applications
Common Uses Include:
  • Kayaks
  • Automotive racking systems
  • Mirrors
  • Hardware in utility trucks
  • Compressors
  • Engines
well nut grip range

Well Nut Grip Range

Like any rivet nut, well nuts create a grip as a screw or bolt is screwed into the insert (like the mandrel of a blind rivet). The length of a well nut or any rivet nut is important to ensure that the fastener will work as intended. Suppose the actual application is over or under the specified grip range. In that case, the nut will not be able to exert the adequate amount of compressive force and will not function properly. The thickness of the two pieces of metal being fastened together should be calculated, with a little extra wiggle room for burrs or bends in the sheet metal.



How Do Well Nuts Work: Well Nuts | Review & Installation | Fasteners 101 Demo

Overview and Installing Well Nuts
Well Nuts | Review & Installation Transcript

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Bob: Welcome back to Albany County Fasteners - Fasteners 101. I'm Bob and today I'm gonna show you how to install a well nut. So, let's get started.

I have here a well nut. They fall under the category of rivet nuts also. This is an EPDM neoprene nut and inside it has a brass threaded insert. So this works well in many different applications. We'll go through those applications, right after I give you the demonstration on installing this.

I'll use this as my material that I'm attaching. Now you can attach multiple materials together with this nut and I have here a 1/4"-20 pan head machine screw with a washer on top. As in a lot of applications, if you're going through, let's say, a motorcycle windshield and you want to fasten it to a bracket to hold it on which is a great application for this. You would push it through. You would put the screw in and then you would start to tighten this screw. I'm just going to use, now this doesn't mean you should use this for your application, depending on your application. I'm using this impact just to demonstrate to you and as you can see, it's tightening up there and that's the backside of the rivet nut or well nut.

And you don’t necessarily want to use this long of a screw, you can use a shorter screw. Again, this is demonstration to give you an idea what this looks like. That was the back and this is the front. So if you were installing glass, plexy glass, this is perfect. If you wanted to install something on your boat: fish finders or things of that nature, you can use this type of application.

So well nuts can be used in many different applications. Great for shock and vibration. Pull-through is an issue. It's not the best for that. If you use this in a saltwater environment, you're gonna have to change them. I don't know how many years (they will last) depends on how it holds up, but the EPDM will deteriorate over time in a saltwater environment. I just want to bring that to your attention, but you know, great for vibration applications, motorcycles, windshields and many other applications.

This is an awesome product. Thanks for watching.

Rubber Well Nut Specifications

Inch / US Sizes

SKU Thread Size Grip Range Hole Size (+.002/-.000)
1111-146-0002 #6-23 UNC 0.015 - 0.156 0.312
1111-146-0012 #6-32 UNC 0.375 - 0.607 0.250
1111-146-0022 #8-32 UNC 0.015 - 0.156 0.312
1111-146-0032 #10-32 UNF 0.015 - 0.192 0.377
1111-146-0042 #10-32 UNF 0.035 - 0.232 0.377
1111-146-0052 #10-32 UNF 0.030 - 0.227 0.377
1111-146-0072 1/4"-20 UNC 0.031 - 0.187 0.500
1111-146-0082 1/4"-20 UNC 0.250 - 0.457 0.500
1111-146-0092 5/16"-18 UNC 0.016 - 0.156 0.562
1111-146-0102 3/8"-16 UNC 0.015 - 0.437 0.750

Metric Sizes

SKU Thread Size Grip Range Hole Size (+.002/-.000)
1111-148-0012 M4-0.7 0.40mm - 4.00mm 7.90
1111-148-0022 M5-0.8 0.40mm - 4.90mm 9.60
1111-148-0032 M5-0.8 0.85mm - 5.90mm 9.60
1111-148-0042 M6-1.0 0.80m - 4.70mm 12.70