Proficiency in MS/NAS hardware selection

[uGlay]

Hello fellow Eng-Tipsters:

I have been working as of late with a lot of MS/NAS spec parts due to their wide availability. However I have noted that there have been cases where the parts I specified were replaced by parts of very similar design.

Sometimes the substitutions happenned during production while sometimes they happened during the initial design stages. Sometimes older co-workers with more knowledge were able to spit out numbers of hardware replacements off the top of their head! (this actually happens a lot)... I then asked the older, more experienced engineers in the office and their reply was simply "experience".


Now my question is, how do I become proficient at using MS parts? I have the entire library of MS components available in hard copy 8x11 binders but there are just so many parts and not really any index table to sort out the parts, they just seem to be numbered in random orders, sometimes mixing electrical with structural with piping, etc.


I have been thinking of coming into work on Saturday and PDF'ing the entire library. But this may not give me the exposure/knowledge i need but instead a bit easier method of sorting through the paperwork.

If you work with MS/NAS hardware and have encountered tips/tricks to memorize/locate specific hardware, I would appreciate any pointers or advice you can come up with. I thank you in advance for reading my thread and for any knowledge you can pass onto the rest of us.

UGLay.

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[drawoh]

uGlay,

For starters, the part you have illustrated is not MS/NAS, and I do not think it is available, or even superseded by something available. My boss certainly would not let me more order any.

There must be a reason you are specifying this stuff. Identify the hardware that meets this requirement and specify it. Keep up to date on this requirement. Do not worry about the stuff that does not meet your requirement.

JHG

 

[uGlay]

well that doesnt help much.


and its a tupolev 144 i think.

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[HamishMcTavish]

Could you please translate the abbreviations MS / NAS?

No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam

 

[materialsliz]

Not sure if it will help but there is a free website called ASSIST:

http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/

that has a searchable database of most MIL and gov specs. You can search out title key words and limit it to NAS or MS specs and the site will give you the spec numbers in numerical order.
Liz

 

[MintJulep]

http://www.globalfasteners.com/military.htm

 

[drawoh]

uGlay,

I know it is a Tupolev 144. Definitely not MS/NAS. Definitely not available. My boss will not buy me one. I will not even bother to ask.

Are you ordering MS/NAS parts just for the heck of it, or are you trying to accomplish something?

I design stuff that gets installed in aircraft. Much of this must be certified airworthy. I asked the certifying engineer what kind of fasteners he likes. He likes the MS24694 and MS27039 series structural fasteners. I use them.

A horrendous number of parts have MS/NAS numbers. I have better things to do with my time than keep track of ones I will not be using anywhere.

JHG

 

[uGlay]

Hamish McTavish:

MS = Military Standard
NAS = National Aerospace Standard

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[uGlay]

Materialsliz:

Thanks for the link to assist database. I have it on my bookmarks toolbar and use it a lot during the day.

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[uGlay]

MintJulep:

Thanks for the link but that seems to be 1 company's inventory of parts.

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[thruthefence]

Back in the Pleistocene, you could look at an "AN" number, & interpolate what it was, ie, an "AN3-" was a 3/16 d bolt. With the dash numbers, one could determine material, 'safety' provisions, length, ect. No More. In the MS system, much of the hardware seems to be identified strictly by dash #. Here is a commercial website with a pretty good searchable datebase, with a cross reference. ( no financial interest, of course )

http://www.gen-aircraft-hardware.com/

Regarding the old moss-backs pulling numbers out the top of their heads, well if you've screwed in as many MS27039-1-08 machine screws as some of us, you'll see them in your sleep.

 

[uGlay]

thruthefence:

thanks for the link. the site is a bit outdated (compared to say mcmaster website for example) but it gets the job done. Regarding the old moss-backs... LOL i'm gonna start calling people that name around here.

Here's a couple of things I've done so far to improve my MS/NAS/NSA/AN Proficiency:

-Organized all database websites in a bookmark toolbar folder.
-Reviewed all my project folders and pulled out all printed MS specs I had stored on those folders.
-Extracted all BOM's I have created and listed all MS/NAS/NSA/AN parts I have used.
-Searched ASSIST database for PDF files of every part on my list.
-Scanned spec sheets into PDF of any parts i could not find on ASSIST but that I could find on the MS books from 1962.
-Generated Excel file with database of all parts we have used separated by categories (screw, nut, rivet, bracket, etc)
-Printed all SPEC sheets in 8.5x11 sheets and filed them on a 3" ring binder.

I showed it to people on my team and they were beyond intrigued. The book goes by the name "every part we have spec'd since I started working here" and is huge. I have people eyeballing my book. I may have to lick it to deter people from taking it.

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