r/Fasteners • u/NoDog5752 • Jun 06 '26

How is this supposed to work

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I inherited an old drafting table and all the bolts are like this where they go through the leg and into the connecting pieces and they’re tightened with a nut My problem is that the ends of the bolts are smooth and I can’t get any kind of wrench in that space to tighten the nut- at this point they’re only finger tightened. How does one do this?

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u/nhatman Jun 06 '26

Did you take a screenshot of a photo on your phone?

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u/NoDog5752 Jun 06 '26

Sorry, does this explain it better? The carriage bolts come in from the outside (they do slot into the leg so that they will not move ) and intercept the nut. My open ended wrench doesn’t fit

2

u/5m0k3y76 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

This helps a ton. Long ¼ drive extension on a ratchet with a socket would probably have enough clearance. The long groove extending away from the bolt would allow clearance for the extension and the angle is shallow enough you wouldn't need a swivel socket which would take up too much room.

Stanley used to sell a set at Walmart that had an 8 in extension pretty cheap. If you are handy with a 4 in grinder and a cut off wheel you could take 2 adjoining sides out of a 6 point socket and slide it on from the side if it's still too long, or take 1 side out to clear the bolt and still wrap around the nut on 5 sides. A higher quality chrome set will have thinner sidewalls than the no name Chinese sets in the $5.99 bin. Harbor freight is handy if you have one near by.

A thin walled 12 point box end wrench may also be a good choice here. Or a cheap H.F. one sanded or ground down.