doing some rewiring my subs and remember seeing on a bunch of builds that people use nuts and bolts so they can wire up and wire down through their box (wire from sub +s and -s to bolt going through wood and then from the out side of box wiring from bolt to amp) So my question is what kind of metel should the nuts and bolts be... i have nuts and bolts made from zinc, would those be ok to use or should i use somthing different like brass or iron ???????? ------- Wiring down to .5 ohms for spl and up to 2 ohms for street beat

Thank you guys for any and all help

Copper would be ideal.

Lets say i cant get copper what would be next best

Just run the wires through a hole and seal it up. Or you can get these http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=091-1245

I would not use copper bolts if you could get them anyways, The threads would be sheared off because copper is so soft. I would either drill a slightly smaller hole then fit the wire through so it is extremely tight, or I would use brass bolts instead.

I do this with all my boxes, but I highly would not recommend using zinc lol Just do some research amongst the most conductive metals, and go from there.

Nothing wrong with using copper you just can't really crank down on them when tightening things down. Brass is the next best but you're only talking about 3/4" or so and relatively low current so it's not super critical that you find a fantastic conductor.

I prefer aluminum. I wouldn't use zinc.

However the place I used to buy aluminum closed so I bought the terminals Rick linked.

If you want to use bolts still I found it best to double nut them to keep them tight.

I just use the standard Zinc coated all thread from Home Depot on all my builds. Never had a problem, If your picky you can order Aluminum all thread also. I believe 6061 is what you will want.

I drill a slightly smaller hole and tighten my chuck on the all thread and screw it through the hole for a tighter seal, Then just silicon it up to be completely airtight. I use 1/4 in on smaller builds and 5/16 on large builds.

I'm a tech that works on industrial systems so I'm picky haha. All we use is copper and aluminum.

I'm a tech that works on industrial systems so I'm picky haha. All we use is copper and aluminum.

A zinc plated bolt would be a much better choice then aluminum.

TIBTECH Electrical conductivity

(10.E6 Siemens/m) Electrical resistivity

(10.E-8 Ohm.m) Thermal Conductivity

(W/m.k) Thermal expansion coef.

10E-6(k-1) from 0 to 100°C Density

(g/cm3) Melting point or degradation

(°C) Silver 62,1 1,6 420 19,1 10,5 961 copper 58,5 1,7 401 17 8,9 1083 Gold 44,2 2,3 317 14,1 19,4 1064 Aluminium 36,9 2,7 237 23,5 2,7 660 Molybden 18,7 5,34 138 4,8 10,2 2623 Zinc 16,6 6,0 116 31 7,1 419 Lithium 10,8 9,3 84,7 56 0,54 181 Tungsten 8,9 11,2 174 4,5 19,3 3422 Brass 15,9 6,3 150 20 8,5 900 Carbon (ex PAN) 5,9 16,9 129 0,2 1,8 2500 Nickel 14,3 7,0 91 13,3 8,8 1455 Iron 10,1 9,9 80 12,1 7,9 1528 Palladium 9,5 10,5 72 11 12 1555 Platinium 9,3 10,8 107 9 21,4 1772 Tin 8,7 11,5 67 23,5 7,3 232 Bronze 67Cu33Zn 7,4 13,5 85 17 8,8 1040 Carbon steel 5,9 16,9 90 12 7,7 1400 Lead 4,7 21,3 35 29 11,3 327 Titanium 2,4 41,7 21 8,9 4,5 1668 St.Steel316L EN1.4404 1,32 76,0 15 16,5 7,9 1535 St.Steel 304 EN1.4301 1,37 73,0 16,3 16,5 7,9 1450 Mercury 1,1 90,9 8 61 13,5 -39 Fe. Cr. Alloy 0,74 134 16 11,1 7,2 +-1440 st.Steel 310 EN1.4841 0,14 720 14,2 17 7,75 2

Electrical conductivity

(10.E6 Siemens/m) Electrical resistivity

(10.E-8 Ohm.m) Thermal Conductivity

(W/m.k) Thermal expansion coef.

10E-6(k-1) from 0 to 100°C Density

(g/cm3) Melting point or degradation

(°C) Silver 62,1 1,6 420 19,1 10,5 961 copper 58,5 1,7 401 17 8,9 1083 Gold 44,2 2,3 317 14,1 19,4 1064 Aluminium 36,9 2,7 237 23,5 2,7 660 Molybden 18,7 5,34 138 4,8 10,2 2623 Zinc 16,6 6,0 116 31 7,1 419 Lithium 10,8 9,3 84,7 56 0,54 181 Tungsten 8,9 11,2 174 4,5 19,3 3422 Brass 15,9 6,3 150 20 8,5 900 Carbon (ex PAN) 5,9 16,9 129 0,2 1,8 2500 Nickel 14,3 7,0 91 13,3 8,8 1455 Iron 10,1 9,9 80 12,1 7,9 1528 Palladium 9,5 10,5 72 11 12 1555 Platinium 9,3 10,8 107 9 21,4 1772 Tin 8,7 11,5 67 23,5 7,3 232 Bronze 67Cu33Zn 7,4 13,5 85 17 8,8 1040 Carbon steel 5,9 16,9 90 12 7,7 1400 Lead 4,7 21,3 35 29 11,3 327 Titanium 2,4 41,7 21 8,9 4,5 1668 St.Steel316L EN1.4404 1,32 76,0 15 16,5 7,9 1535 St.Steel 304 EN1.4301 1,37 73,0 16,3 16,5 7,9 1450 Mercury 1,1 90,9 8 61 13,5 -39 Fe. Cr. Alloy 0,74 134 16 11,1 7,2 +-1440 st.Steel 310 EN1.4841 0,14 720 14,2 17 7,75 2

Copy paste FAIL, lol It goes

Silver

Copper

Gold

Aluminum

Molybden

Zinc

Lithium

Tungsten

Brass,

carbon,

Nickel,

etc etc

Zinc coated all thread is perfectly fine for what you need, Im running a BC5500 through it and put money no audible difference would be made by switching

Edited August 16, 201213 yr by swift

The problem with aluminum is that it readily corrodes and its oxides are non-conductive.

just pass through... I have a pvc pipe in my wall that i am passing through 16 runs of 8awg. I then seal it up with foam and i compete.

In the past, I would drill a hole just large enough for cables to slide out then silicone the hole back up. Zip tie the cables before and after exiting hole.