Search for #10-32 Cage Nuts to fit Ampeg SVT-CL Preamp mtg flanges

[nevetslab]

I THINK I found the smaller 10-32 cage nut at Granger. They had (4) different 10-32 cage nuts listed, three had edge-to-center distances @ around 0.375, and one at around 0.250 (P/N 1LBE6. Like every other resource for cage nuts, NO Hole dimensions listed!! So, I'm taking a chance on this . The photo of it looks smaller than the ones having the 0.375" edge-center distance. If it ain't it, I've wasted $28 & change. I just love incomplete details.

The parts arrived today. P/N on the box didn't appear anywhere in their catalog, it will NOT fit into the Preamp chassis 7mm sq hole (0.276"), and the only thing that it does have is center of hole to edge of part being 0.250". Which does me absolutely no good. Is there some unwrittten rule that all cage nuts of this thread size fit into 0.375" square holes? Is that why you never see anyone list the mtg hole? I'll call Grainger, though due to this one dimension, I'm sure I'm screwed.

Added note: another label on the back of the small box DOES show the 1LBE6 p/n, so I bought the stupid thing, without having actual size/mtg hole dimensions. Sucker! Further search shows standard width of square nuts, be they #6-32 thru 1/4-20 is 3/8" Wide. I was thinking maybe I could find a smaller cage nut, buy some 5/16" wide #10-32 square nuts, and retrofit them into a smaller cage nut that DOES fit the 0.276" size square hole. NOPE. Can't buy small #10-32 nuts that size. And, 3/8" Square Hole IS the standard size for cage nuts from 1/4-20 on down....nobody states it, but that is ALL you can find.

Contacted Apex Fasteners again, to see if I can either buy small qty from them, or, as they are an industry source to mfgrs and NOT to resale vendors, see if I can contact any of their customers that buy that small part and buy from them. Otherwise, the only alternative left is contact Yamaha (I guess) and obtain more of the crap from China that is being put in the SVT-CL/AV amps. Heaven forbid they change the metalwork to use an industry standard size cage nut!

[TimmyP1955]

Guess you'll have to get them from Ampeg - once the new parts department is all settled in.

I expect you have figured out that they should be installed with the "wings" going side to side, so they don't pop out when sliding the chassis into the cabinet.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Guess you'll have to get them from Ampeg - once the new parts department is all settled in.

Will Yampeg supply parts to non-authorized repair facilities? Yamaha has never cooperated with me - if I can't punt with off the shelf parts then Yamaha equipment goes unrepaired around here. Calls to Yamaha have always proven to be a waste of time, they always fob me off with their parts/schematics/advice blackout policy.

Funny thing, another branch of the company has attempted to have me connect them with certain artistes they wish to offer endorsement deals to. This butters no parsnips with the parts department.

Perhaps nevets' elevated position at a very important facility will enable him to get parts. If so, more power to ya!

[SoulFetish]

Will Yampeg supply parts to non-authorized repair facilities? Yamaha has never cooperated with me - if I can't punt with off the shelf parts then Yamaha equipment goes unrepaired around here. Calls to Yamaha have always proven to be a waste of time, they always fob me off with their parts/schematics/advice blackout policy.

Funny thing, another branch of the company has attempted to have me connect them with certain artistes they wish to offer endorsement deals to. This butters no parsnips with the parts department.

Perhaps nevets' elevated position at a very important facility will enable him to get parts. If so, more power to ya!

I'm not sure how different divisions within the Yamaha company operate their customer service, but we have been a yamaha shop for a very long time and our tape/mixer/keyboard guy deals with them on a pretty regular basis. Our experience with the Keyboard division is that they have been fantastic to work with and have been extremely accommodating to him with assistance and support. They often will provide the cost of repairs for customers even when the warranty has expired.

[Enzo]

My experience over 30 years doing Yamaha warranty shop work was always very positive. I remember Janet in parts was my buddy. It has been a long while since I last did such work now.

LAst i checked you could sign on to do warranty work, but you could also just fill out a credit app for a parts account. You might inquire after that.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Thanks Enzo & SoulFetish, I'll give Yamaha another try. Maybe they loosened up their attitude since the last time I tried getting help from them. It's been a while. Getting the reject from them several times programmed me to quit trying.

[Enzo]

My entire relationship with them was as someone with an account. Try asking for credit department and ask about a parts account. Worst they can say is "no." I used to establish credit with a zillion companies, then later I just used a Visa card. But I still had an account.

[g1]

Top-notch company when you're authorized, won't talk to you if you aren't. That's been my experience anyway. Not that different from others I guess, just the top-notch part.

[Shamus71]

Did anyone ever find a source for these smaller 10-32 cage nuts?

[Shamus71]

Any luck finding anything that fit?

I have a brand new Ampeg SVT-CL in the shop (2 of them, actually), brought to me so I could set them up to last instead of failing on rentals first. So, among all the hardware issues I've had to deal with on them, what has stopped me in my tracks are the cheap Chinese #10-32 cage nuts installed in the 7mm sq holes of the preamp chassis mounting flanges. One of them snapped off one side of the shaped clips that keep them in the holes. Then, before I could even try to come up with a fix, lacking a replacement, the other side snapped off before I even tried to apply any force!!

These parts are NOT common, I've come to discover. What everybody stocks around the country are the larger size that fit the power amp chassis, square hole size being 0.375". Images of the little buggers:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]52695[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]52696[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]52697[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]52698[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]52699[/ATTACH]

So far, all I've been able to find are the larger size #10-32 cage nuts. And, only McMaster-Carr even lists the panel opening size for what they offer. Everyone else just gives you pictures, and what specs they offer don't even call out the square hole size you're trying to fit. As though that would be important, since the part MUST FIT into your opening!!

All I found at Home Depot last night were j-clips, and they will only work on the rear flange. You have to run a #10-32 tap thru them first to even have a chance of them working with the soft-steel chrome plated screws Ampeg provides. And, even with that, having now made the mistake of removing the rear cage nut, since they won't fit on the inside front flange of the chassis.....threading in the screw rotates the j-clip away from it's centering. I haven't even tried this in the cabinet, where all these fastners are now a blind hole.

When I tried to install the intact #10-32 cage nut into the front flange.....I can't get the little bugger into the opening. I've been using a nice robust bent-nose pliers to install them in SVT power amp chassis and Marshall chassis, but, the front openings in the SVT Preamp, they're in the corner and next to the bulging side of a pop rivet, and thus far, I've been unable to install one! Getting to where I want to start throwing things, if anyone has been pushed to that state!

[nevetslab]

I never did get a call back from Apex Fasteners on this item: https://apexfasteners.com/fasteners/.../nut-retainers
"NR-D30395-1032 10-32 .025"-.063" .281" Square" I'll have to take another run at them.

Soulfetish provided that source, and has been the only part that I've found anywhere on the internet. Regrettably, Apex only deals with mfgr's where they are selling boxes of these in 1000 pc qty's, so small service shops just don't qualify. And, since the products are now sourcing cheap Asian hardware, using non-spring steel frames to house the square #10-32 machine nut that fits in the 'non-industry standard -281" sq hole, rather than the standard 3/8" square hole, buying the part thru Yamaha, who now owns Ampeg sure doesn't seem like a proper solution.

In going thru my 347 pages of Service Notes on the Ampeg 300W Bass Amps, I came across that search again in the past couple weeks, so it's back on my mind to find a solution to this problem. I'd already looked into Clip Nuts, as well as J-clips, but neither that I've found have been compatible with the preamp chassis.

Thanks for asking

[Shamus71]

I've been in contact with my Yamaha service rep and their answer is that Ampeg doesn't sell hardware. Not very impressed with the answer, but the rep is looking into it more for me.

I never did get a call back from Apex Fasteners on this item: https://apexfasteners.com/fasteners/.../nut-retainers
"NR-D30395-1032 10-32 .025"-.063" .281" Square" I'll have to take another run at them.

Soulfetish provided that source, and has been the only part that I've found anywhere on the internet. Regrettably, Apex only deals with mfgr's where they are selling boxes of these in 1000 pc qty's, so small service shops just don't qualify. And, since the products are now sourcing cheap Asian hardware, using non-spring steel frames to house the square #10-32 machine nut that fits in the 'non-industry standard -281" sq hole, rather than the standard 3/8" square hole, buying the part thru Yamaha, who now owns Ampeg sure doesn't seem like a proper solution.

In going thru my 347 pages of Service Notes on the Ampeg 300W Bass Amps, I came across that search again in the past couple weeks, so it's back on my mind to find a solution to this problem. I'd already looked into Clip Nuts, as well as J-clips, but neither that I've found have been compatible with the preamp chassis.

Thanks for asking

[nevetslab]

Well, folks, I have EGG on my face again. The SVT-CL, -AV preamp screws that thread into the cage nuts of the preamp chassis are NOT #10-32, nor M5-0.8mm as I thought. They're #10-24 thread. Now, I did just find at MCS Industrial Direct....a clip-on nut, spring steel #10-24 which can slip onto either the rear 0.060 folded steel flange, or the front extrusion riveted to the steel chassis, no doubt thicker (I will open one up again shortly for the exact thickness). The link at MCS : https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/67744409 Unlike the clip-on nut I found earlier today for M5-0,8mm thread which was $0.78ea / 10 pc price, these are 50 pc min @ $36.24/50 + tax/shpg.

I did also find a snap-in Nylon part for #10 screws at McMaster-Carr. P/N 98550A485, which fits the 0.281" sq chassis holes. I haven't sampled this part yet. Need to see if it will take to tapping #10-24 thread, and if it will survive supporting the preamp chassis without breaking. I will order this Clip-on #10-24 thread NUT, as it looks like a solution to the aging Cage Nut problem. Panel Thickness range from 0.025" to 0.125", and looks like it will solve the problem.

10-32 Snap-in Insert Nut McMaster-Carr.pdf

[drewl]

That the same thread Fender uses on the Hot Rod series for the back panels and speakers?

We have boxes of the screws at work, especially torx head.
Those screws on Fender amps are always missing a few.

[nevetslab]

No....the Hot Rod Series as well as the Blues DeVille, others like that...all use #10-32 Truss Head SS screws