ISO metric screw thread

The ISO metric screw threads are the world-wide most

commonly used type of general-purpose screw thread.[1]
They were one of the rst international standards agreed
when the International Organization for Standardization
was set up in 1947.

nal (female) thread (e.g., in a nut), the major and minor

diameters are minimum dimensions, therefore the thread
prole must end at at D but may be rounded out beyond D .

The minor diameter D and eective pitch diameter D

The M designation for metric screws indicates the nom- are derived from the major diameter and pitch as
inal outer diameter of the screw, in millimeters (e.g., an
M6 screw has a nominal outer diameter of 6 millimeters).

5
5 3
Dmin = Dmaj 2 H = Dmaj
P Dmaj 1.082532 P
8
8

1 Basic prole
3
3 3
Dp = Dmaj 2 H = Dmaj
P Dmaj 0.649519 P
8
8
INTERNAL THREAD

2 Designation

P/8
H/8

60

A metric ISO screw thread is designated by the letter M

followed by the value of the nominal diameter D (D in
the diagram above) and the pitch P, both expressed in millimetres and separated by the multiplication sign, (e.g.,
M81.25). If the pitch is the normally used coarse
pitch listed in ISO 261 or ISO 262, it can be omitted (e.g.,
M8). Tolerance classes dened in ISO 965-1 can be appended to these designations, if required (e.g., M500 6g
in external threads). If, for instance, only M20 is given
then it is coarse pitch thread. External threads are designated by lowercase letter, g or h. Internal threads are
designated by upper case letters, G or H.

3H/8
P/4

30

H
5H/8

P/2
Dmaj

H/4

Dp

EXTERNAL THREAD

Dmin

P
90
AXIS OF SCREW THREAD

Basic prole of all ISO metric screw threads

The design principles of ISO general-purpose metric

screw threads (M series threads) are dened in international standard ISO 68-1.[2] Each thread is characterized
by its major diameter, D (D in the diagram), and its
pitch, P. ISO metric threads consist of a symmetric Vshaped thread. In the plane of the thread axis, the anks
of the V have an angle of 60 to each other. The thread
depth is 0.614 pitch. The outermost 1 8 and the innermost 1 4 of the height H of the V-shape are cut o from
the prole.

3 Preferred sizes
ISO 261 species a detailed list of preferred combinations of outer diameter D and pitch P for ISO metric
screw threads.[4]
ISO 262 species a shorter list of thread dimensions a
subset of ISO 261.[5]

The relationship between the height, H, and the pitch, P,

The coarse pitch is the commonly used default pitch
is described by the following equation:[3]
for a given diameter. In addition, one or two smaller

ne pitches are dened, for use in applications where

H = 23 P = cos(30 ) P 0.866 P
the height of the normal coarse pitch would be unor
suitable (e.g., threads in thin-walled pipes). The terms
H
P = 23 H = cos(30
coarse and ne have (in this context) no relation to
) 1.155 H
In an external (male) thread (e.g., on a bolt), the major the manufacturing quality of the thread.
diameter D and the minor diameter D dene maximum dimensions of the thread. This means that the external thread must end at at D , but can be rounded out
below the minor diameter D . Conversely, in an inter-

In addition to coarse and ne threads, there is another

division of extra ne, or superne threads, with a very
ne pitch thread. Superne pitch metric threads are occasionally used in automotive components, such as suspen1

sion struts, and are commonly used in the aviation manufacturing industry. This is because extra ne threads are
more resistant to coming loose from vibrations.[6]

REFERENCES

British Association screw threads (BA)

British Standard Cycle (BSC)
British standard ne thread (BSF)

Hex head widths

Hex head widths (width across ats, wrench size) for DIN
934 hex nuts and hex head bolts. Other (usually smaller)
sizes may occur for reasons of weight or cost reduction.

Standards

5.1

International

ISO 68-1: ISO general purpose screw threads Basic prole Metric screw threads.
ISO 261: ISO general purpose metric screw threads
General plan.
ISO 262: ISO general purpose metric screw threads
Selected sizes for screws, bolts and nuts.
ISO 965: ISO general purpose metric screw threads
Tolerances[7]

Buttress thread
Photographic Filter thread
Garden hose thread
List of drill and tap sizes
National pipe thread (NPT)
National thread
Panzergewinde
Screw thread
Square thread form
Thread angle
Trapezoidal thread forms

ISO 965-2: Limits of sizes for general purpose

external and internal screw threads.

United States Standard thread

ISO 965-3: Deviations for constructional

screw threads

Unied Thread Standard (UTS, UNC, UNF, UNEF

and UNS) a US/Canadian/British thread standard
that uses the same 60 prole as metric threads, but
an inch-based set of diameter/pitch combinations.

ISO 965-5: Limits of sizes for internal screw

threads to mate with hot-dip galvanized external screw threads with maximum size of tolerance position h before galvanizing

National

7 References
[1] ISO/TC/ 1 Business Plan, 2007-03-05, Version 1.3. Table
3: The market share of each screw thread, p. 7.
[2] ISO 68-1:1998 ISO general purpose screw threads Basic
prole Part 1: Metric screw threads. International Organization for Standardization.

BS 3643: ISO metric screw threads

[3] Oberg et al. 2000, p. 1706.

ANSI/ASME B1.13M: Metric Screw Threads: M

Prole

[4] ISO 261:1998 ISO general purpose metric screw threads

General plan. International Organization for Standardization. 17 Dec 1998.

DIN 13-1

British Standard Whitworth (BSW) a British

thread standard with 55 prole.

ISO 965-1: Principles and basic data

ISO 965-4: Limits of sizes for hot-dip galvanized external screw threads to mate with internal screw threads tapped with tolerance position H or G after galvanizing

5.2

British standard pipe thread (BSP)

See also

[5] ISO 262:1998 ISO general purpose metric screw threads

Selected sizes for screws, bolts and nuts. International Organization for Standardization. 17 Dec 1998.

ASTM A325M

[6] http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/
19950018571.pdf

ASTM F568M

[7] ISO 965 in the Catalogue on the Ocial ISO website

7.1

Bibliography

Oberg, Erik; Jones, Franklin D.; Horton, Holbrook

L.; Ryel, Henry H. (2000), Machinerys Handbook
(26th ed.), New York: Industrial Press Inc., ISBN
0-8311-2635-3.

External links
Metric screw thread dimensions and tolerances
Metric coarse thread dimensions
Metric ne thread dimensions
Detailed metric thread dimensions

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

ISO metric screw thread Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_metric_screw_thread?oldid=722371932 Contributors: Egil, Gutza,

Timpo, Markus Kuhn, Rjo, Hooperbloob, Snowolf, Velella, CPES, FreplySpang, Mathrick, Lmatt, Alvin-cs, Srleer, Ospalh, Syrthiss,
Closedmouth, TrygveFlathen, SmackBot, Chris the speller, Utsutsu, Hgrosser, JzG, IronGargoyle, Peter Horn, Wizard191, Cornlad, Quibik,
Alaibot, Oxonhutch, Wainson, Magioladitis, Thomas.Hedden, Catslash, Fredrosse, Pcrawford, VolkovBot, Error9312, Lradrama, WinTakeAll, Inductiveload, Andy Dingley, Martk, Smstone, SvNH, Steven Crossin, Mygerardromance, Yodtao, Anon lynx, MystBot, Addbot,
MrOllie, Luckas-bot, Structuren, AnomieBOT, Efa, FrescoBot, Dbucsa, Alan.poindexter, Paal.foyn, ZroBot, Jipersson, Shmilyshy, ClueBot NG, CocuBot, GKFX, Td47, Heptode, Peter Horn.2 and Anonymous: 68

9.2

Images

File:ISO_and_UTS_Thread_Dimensions.svg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/ISO_and_UTS_
Thread_Dimensions.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Self-made, Inkscape Original artist: Inductiveload
File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007

9.3

Content license

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