:''On some firearms the

gun barrel A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small arms, small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high ...

is fastened to the receiver with a nut, referred to as a barrel nut.'' A barrel nut (also known as steel cross dowel or dowel nut) is a specialized forged nut, and is commonly used in

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

and

ready-to-assemble furniture Ready-to-assemble furniture (RTA), also known as knock-down furniture (KD), flat-pack furniture, or kit furniture, is a form of furniture that requires customer assembly. The separate components are packed for sale in cartons containing assembl ...

applications. It is used to bolt thin

sheet metal Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil (metal), foil or Metal leaf, leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 ...

parts to larger, often

billet In European militaries, a billet is a living-quarters to which a soldier is assigned to sleep. In American usage, it refers to a specific personnel position, assignment, or duty station to which a soldier can be assigned. Historically, a billet w ...

forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...

, parts. The barrel nut is a round slug, or formed sheet metal part with threads perpendicular to the length of the nut. The nut sits in a hole inside the forging and a standard bolt is threaded into the barrel nut from outside the sheet metal. They are preferred over a standard nut and bolt, because they do not require a flange to be machined or forged onto the receiving part, thus reducing weight. Furniture cross dowel barrel nuts are cylindrical shaped metal nuts (metal dowels) used with furniture connector bolts to join two pieces of wood. The inside threaded hole is unusual in that it passes through the sides of the dowel. To install, the pieces of wood to be joined are aligned, then a bolt hole is drilled through one piece of wood and into the other. A dowel hole is drilled laterally across the bolt hole and the cross dowel is inserted into it. The end of the cross dowel is slotted so that a screwdriver can be inserted to rotate the dowel so that its threaded shaft aligns with the bolt hole. The furniture connector bolt is then inserted into the bolt hole and screwed into the cross dowel until the wood pieces are held tightly together. Barrel nuts are also common in

flat-pack Ready-to-assemble furniture (RTA), also known as knock-down furniture (KD), flat-pack furniture, or kit furniture, is a form of furniture that requires customer assembly. The separate components are packed for sale in cartons containing assembl ...

furniture, where long bolts and barrel nuts are used to hold together T joints in chipboard sheets. Verbindungskloben (connecting block).jpg, A 10 mm long barrel nut with M6 threads Montage Quermutterbolzen.png, Sketch of use in furniture Cross dowel cutaway.png, A cutaway drawing of a cross dowel in use Barrel nut joint, nut, bolt.svg, Sketch of use in wood construction

References

External links

Nuts (hardware) {{Mech-engineering-stub