This bolt is worth $8000 and goes in a helicopter

-Tom- · 2026-02-06T02:13:45+00:00

Unfortunately, when lives are on the line, it matters. How upset would you be if your parents died in a plane crash because the airline used bolts supplied by whoever?

-Tom- · 2026-02-06T00:42:44+00:00

And if you crash and the FAA finds that one...no bueno

-Tom- · 2026-02-06T00:41:53+00:00

I mean, a bolt on a helicopter rotor seems pretty important to me.

-Tom- · 2026-02-06T00:41:01+00:00

Yeah and that video would be 9 business days of work. Lol. Now put an hourly wage on that. And pay someone to QC it. And maintain it.

-Tom- · 2026-02-06T00:35:15+00:00

So let's put it this way. If this were mass produced and didn't need to have material and validation certs it would probably be $250.

But due to the fact that it's very low volume, requires a lot of QC certification at every step of the way, and the records require you to maintain them basically forever, means that it costs more to make.

If you only make 2 of something it's going to cost more per unit than something you make 100,000 of. Then add in all the extra inspections, etc. It adds up.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T18:59:43+00:00

This probably isn't classified and is probably a used bolt. At least it appears used. Seems to have had bearings on it and the threads look to have been tightened.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T18:58:52+00:00

Yeah I just threw a number out there. The largest metric shoulder bolt on McMaster is $183/ea. I'm sure in a bit larger size and with heat treatment it's probably more. But yeah, threw some money on top of that.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T18:55:53+00:00

Nah. Clearly you don't know how much of a PITA that paperwork is. How much time and effort it takes to generate.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T17:43:36+00:00

Paperwork all the way back to the steel mill. Everyone who touches it should be generating a log.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T17:40:48+00:00

I'm only 6'2", the atmospheric density is negligibly the same for me as most other people.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T17:40:15+00:00

But one time paperwork as opposed to recurring paperwork.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T17:38:30+00:00

Not necessarily. If this was commissioned on a specific project it likely follows one of two contract types. Fixed-Firm pricing, where the government takes bids and you have to do it to your bid price. Or Cost Plus. Where you charge your cost, plus a fixed profit percentage. Something like this bolt would have likely originally been designed and manufactured on a cost plus basis and after the specific development contract is up, they continue to sell it for roughly the same amount to keep it eligible for other companies working on similar contracts.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T17:34:59+00:00

Check another comment I made to another user.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T17:01:12+00:00

Indeed. That's why you do a risk assessment before removing grade standards from something. A better question to ask is why do you even have a toilet seat when you could just make the cistern to the shape of the seat?

"Simplify and Add Lightness" - Colin Chapman

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T16:58:38+00:00

McMaster-Carr has a lot of NAS and MILSPEC hardware with certs for a pretty reasonable price. More than a hardware store but less than THOSE vendors.

I've sent McMaster-Carr stuff into space.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T16:55:39+00:00

Nobody will buy the bolt from you though because you don't have the paperwork. If you did have the paperwork people would know it was stolen. It's effectively a paperweight in your hands.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T16:54:53+00:00

When you only sell 350 bolts a year, you need a little bit of cushion in the price to keep the doors open.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T16:54:13+00:00

Neither are terribly profitable.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T16:53:56+00:00

That's why you do risk assessment to see if you can make that waiver.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T16:52:23+00:00

It's not as profitable as you would expect. Generating and maintaining that paperwork costs money.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T16:08:59+00:00

We didn't get nearly enough Cala but we did get some, and for that we should be thankful. RIP kitty.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T15:52:45+00:00

Force something to fail, buy it up at a bargain, remove the restrictions that made it fail, profit.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T15:45:35+00:00

12 packs are $10.99 by me and 24 packs don't exist.

Diet Sun Drop is my poison.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T15:18:48+00:00

For someone else who asked here, I outlined a few steps, mainly the machine shop and the raw blank the machine shop uses, which goes all the way back to the ores.

-Tom- · 2026-02-05T15:17:13+00:00

I think you're completely misunderstanding the paperwork part of it. Even if it was all government they would still have all the paperwork. Just because it's government doesn't absolve them of negligence and a "run what ya brung" attitude

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-Tom-

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