Metric to Imperial Fastener Cross-Reference Calculator
Metric to Imperial Fastener Cross-Reference Calculator
The closest thread in the other system, with the diameter and the pitch differences both printed and the engagement depth at which the two forms walk apart — because nothing here is equivalent to anything, and the near misses are the dangerous ones.
Metric / imperial fastener cross-reference
An M5 × 0.8, with class 8.8 against SAE grade 5
Two differences, and the thread count that turns them into a failure
- Δd
- the major diameter difference, in millimetres and as a percentage. It decides whether the pair will START. A bolt bigger than the nut’s thread will not enter; a bolt smaller than it enters freely and engages on less flank, which is the direction that assembles and fails
- ΔP
- the pitch difference. It decides whether the pair, having started, will keep engaging. It accumulates: after n threads the two forms are n·ΔP out of step
- 0.5413·P
- the ISO 68-1 internal thread height, 5H/8 with H = P√3/2. Exactly 5/8 × √3/2 = 0.5412659, not the 0.54125 that is often printed. It is the depth the flanks have to share
- n_half
- how many threads of engagement it takes for the accumulated pitch error to reach HALF a thread height, at which point the flanks have lost each other and only the threads nearest the mouth carry anything. Under about three, the pair will not start. Over about ten, it starts easily and strips somewhere down the hole, which is worse
- 25.4 / TPI
- threads per inch to pitch in millimetres, and the reason a #10-32 and an M5 × 0.8 look alike: 25.4/32 = 0.79375 against 0.8, which is 0.79 per cent. The pitch ↔ TPI arithmetic and the standard series belong to the converters section of this site; this page is about what happens when you try to assemble the pair
- A_s
- the tensile stress area, on each standard’s own coefficient: π/4(d − 0.938194P)² for metric and π/4(d − 0.974279P)² for unified. They are different because the two standards take the area at different points in the profile, which is a small but real reason the strength comparison is never exact
Worked example
An M5 × 0.8, with class 8.8 against SAE grade 5
THE NEAREST UNIFIED THREAD to an M5 × 0.8 is a #10-32 UNF, found by minimising the WORSE of the two percentage differences rather than either one alone — a pair that matches on diameter and misses on pitch is exactly as useless as the reverse
THE DIAMETERS. A #10 is 0.060 + 0.013 × 10 = 0.190 inches = 4.826 mm. An M5 is 5.000. The gap is 0.174 mm, or 3.61 per cent
THE PITCHES. 32 threads per inch is 25.4/32 = 0.79375 mm against the M5's 0.8. That is 0.00625 mm, or 0.79 per cent — which is inside the pitch tolerance of a commercial thread class, and is the reason this pair is famous
SO WHICH ONE KILLS IT? One thread height here is 0.5413 × 0.79375 = 0.4296 mm. The pitch error takes 34.4 threads to reach half of that, so on pitch alone the pair would run the full depth of any ordinary nut. The DIAMETER gap of 0.174 mm is 0.40 of a thread height straight away, at the first turn. This is a diameter mismatch, not a pitch one, and the brief this page was written from had it the other way round
AND THE ASYMMETRY IS THE WHOLE SAFETY POINT. An M5 bolt is BIGGER than a #10-32, so it will not enter a #10-32 nut and you find out immediately. A #10-32 bolt is SMALLER than an M5, so it drops into an M5 nut, spins in by hand, feels like a thread and engages on a sliver of flank. The combination that goes together is the combination that fails, and it fails at a load nobody predicted because the stress area is right and the engagement is not
THE STRENGTHS, for completeness. An M5's tensile stress area is 14.18 mm² and a #10-32's is 12.90 mm². At class 8.8 the metric bolt's proof load is 580 × 14.18 = 8.23 kN; at SAE grade 5 the inch bolt's is 586.1 × 12.90 = 7.56 kN. The materials are within about one per cent of each other on proof stress and the BOLTS are 8.8 per cent apart, because the areas differ. Equivalent materials do not make equivalent fasteners
THE VERDICT, and it is the same verdict for every row in the table below. These are two different threads. Mixing them in a load-bearing joint is a defect and not a workaround: it is not inspectable after assembly, it passes a torque check, and it fails at a fraction of the design load with no warning
Every metric/unified pair within six per cent on both diameter and pitch
| Metric | Unified | Diameter gap (mm) | …% | Pitch gap (mm) | …% | Threads to half a thread height | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M2.5 | #3-56 UNF | -0.015 | 0.58 | -0.0036 | 0.79 | 34.1 | WILL start and WILL strip. The dangerous one |
| M5 | #10-32 UNF | 0.174 | 3.61 | 0.0063 | 0.79 | 34.4 | pitches match, diameters do not — will not start |
| M4 | #8-36 UNF | -0.166 | 3.98 | -0.0056 | 0.79 | 34.1 | pitches match, diameters do not — will not start |
| M20 | 3/4-10 UNC | 0.950 | 4.99 | -0.0400 | 1.57 | 16.9 | binds within a few threads |
| M18 | 3/4-10 UNC | -1.050 | 5.51 | -0.0400 | 1.57 | 16.9 | binds within a few threads |
| M10 | 3/8-16 UNC | 0.475 | 4.99 | -0.0875 | 5.51 | 4.6 | binds within a few threads |
| M24 | 1-8 UNC | -1.400 | 5.51 | -0.1750 | 5.51 | 4.6 | binds within a few threads |
| M12x1.25 | 1/2-20 UNF | -0.700 | 5.51 | -0.0200 | 1.57 | 16.9 | binds within a few threads |
| M20x1.5 | 3/4-16 UNF | 0.950 | 4.99 | -0.0875 | 5.51 | 4.6 | binds within a few threads |
| M3 | #4-48 UNF | 0.155 | 5.46 | -0.0292 | 5.51 | 4.6 | binds within a few threads |
| M14 | 9/16-12 UNC | -0.287 | 2.01 | -0.1167 | 5.51 | 4.6 | binds within a few threads |
| M8x1 | 5/16-24 UNF | 0.063 | 0.79 | -0.0583 | 5.51 | 4.6 | diameters within one and a half per cent; it will start |
| M10x1 | 3/8-24 UNF | 0.475 | 4.99 | -0.0583 | 5.51 | 4.6 | binds within a few threads |
| M3.5 | #6-40 UNF | -0.005 | 0.15 | -0.0350 | 5.51 | 4.6 | diameters within one and a half per cent; it will start |
Metric property class against SAE grade, with the gaps printed
| Metric | SAE | Metric proof (N/mm²) | SAE proof (N/mm²) | Gap % | Metric yield | SAE yield | Gap % | Metric ultimate | SAE ultimate | Gap % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 898-1 class 8.8 (d ≤ 16) | SAE grade 5, ≤ 1 in | 580 | 586.1 | -1.03 | 640 | 634.3 | 0.90 | 800 | 827.4 | -3.31 |
| ISO 898-1 class 10.9 | SAE grade 8 | 830 | 827.4 | 0.32 | 940 | 896.3 | 4.87 | 1,040 | 1,034.2 | 0.56 |
| ISO 898-1 class 9.8 (d ≤ 16) | SAE grade 8 | 650 | 827.4 | -21.44 | 720 | 896.3 | -19.67 | 900 | 1,034.2 | -12.98 |
| ISO 898-1 class 5.8 | SAE grade 2, ≤ 3/4 in | 380 | 379.2 | 0.21 | 400 | 393.0 | 1.78 | 520 | 510.2 | 1.92 |
| ISO 898-1 class 4.6 | SAE grade 1 | 225 | 227.5 | -1.11 | 240 | 248.2 | -3.31 | 400 | 413.7 | -3.31 |
| ISO 3506-1 A2-70 / A4-70 (class 70) | — nothing comparable | none defined | — | — | 450 | — | -29.7 against 8.8 | 700 | — | -12.5 against 8.8 |
Across-flats: every metric spanner against its nearest imperial one
| Metric (mm) | Fits | Imperial | …in mm | Fits | Imperial minus metric (mm) | …% | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27.0 | M18 (ISO 4014) | 1-1/16 in | 26.9875 | 5/8 in heavy | -0.0125 | -0.05 | fits both ways; you will never know which you picked up |
| 46.0 | M30 (ISO 4014) | 1-13/16 in | 46.0375 | 1-1/8 in heavy | 0.0375 | 0.08 | fits both ways; you will never know which you picked up |
| 19.0 | M12 (DIN 931/933) | 3/4 in | 19.0500 | 1/2 in | 0.0500 | 0.26 | fits both ways; you will never know which you picked up |
| 16.0 | M10 (ISO 4014) | 5/8 in | 15.8750 | 7/16 in | -0.1250 | -0.78 | imperial will not go on the metric head; the metric spanner is loose on the imperial one |
| 24.0 | M16 (ISO 4014) | 15/16 in | 23.8125 | 5/8 in | -0.1875 | -0.78 | imperial will not go on the metric head; the metric spanner is loose on the imperial one |
| 22.0 | M14 (DIN 931/933) | 7/8 in | 22.2250 | 1/2 in heavy | 0.2250 | 1.02 | imperial is LOOSE on the metric head — rounds it |
| 32.0 | M22 (DIN 931/933) | 1-1/4 in | 31.7500 | 3/4 in heavy | -0.2500 | -0.78 | imperial will not go on the metric head; the metric spanner is loose on the imperial one |
| 41.0 | M27 (ISO 4014) | 1-5/8 in | 41.2750 | 1 in heavy | 0.2750 | 0.67 | imperial is LOOSE on the metric head — rounds it |
| 13.0 | M8 (ISO 4014) | 1/2 in | 12.7000 | 5/16 in | -0.3000 | -2.31 | imperial will not go on the metric head; the metric spanner is loose on the imperial one |
| 17.0 | M10 (DIN 931/933) | 11/16 in | 17.4625 | 3/8 in heavy | 0.4625 | 2.72 | imperial is visibly loose — do not |
| 36.0 | M24 (ISO 4014) | 1-7/16 in | 36.5125 | 7/8 in heavy | 0.5125 | 1.42 | imperial is visibly loose — do not |
| 18.0 | M12 (ISO 4014) | 11/16 in | 17.4625 | 3/8 in heavy | -0.5375 | -2.99 | imperial will not fit at all |
| 34.0 | M22 (ISO 4014) | 1-5/16 in | 33.3375 | 7/8 in | -0.6625 | -1.95 | imperial will not fit at all |
| 50.0 | M33 (ISO 4014) | 2 in | 50.8000 | 1-1/4 in heavy | 0.8000 | 1.60 | imperial is visibly loose — do not |
Nothing here is equivalent, and the near misses are the ones that get built
Nothing on this page is equivalent to anything, and that is the point. The metric and unified series were built on different units, from different reference profiles, by different committees, and no size in one is a size in the other. What this page does instead is find the CLOSEST thread in the other system and print how far away it is — in millimetres and in per cent, on the major diameter and on the pitch separately, because the two failures are different. The diameter decides whether the pair will start. The pitch decides whether, having started, it will keep engaging. A pair can be excellent on one and hopeless on the other, and the M5 against #10-32 case is exactly that.
Why the near misses are the whole subject. A pair that is twenty per cent apart is harmless: it will not go together, you find out in a second, and nothing is damaged. A pair that is one per cent apart is a defect waiting for a load. The smaller bolt enters the larger nut, turns by hand, takes a torque wrench reading that looks right — because most of the torque is friction under the head and in the thread, not flank contact — and holds on a sliver of engagement. Nothing about it is visible once it is assembled. When it goes, it strips rather than breaks, so the joint opens instead of cracking in place. The table on this page lists every metric/unified pair within six per cent on both measures, computed from the two series rather than quoted, and there are not many of them: the tightest is M2.5 against a #3-56 UNF at 0.58 and 0.79 per cent.
What the pitch arithmetic is, and where it lives. Pitch in millimetres is 25.4 divided by threads per inch, and the standard series and that conversion are the subject of a page in the converters section of this site rather than of this one. This page starts where that one ends: given that an M5 × 0.8 and a #10-32 UNF have pitches 0.79 per cent apart, what actually happens when you try to assemble them? The answer is the thread count. Each turn, the two forms slip by the pitch difference; after n threads they are n·ΔP out of step; and once that reaches half a thread height (5H/8 = 0.5413·P) the flanks have lost each other and only the threads nearest the mouth are carrying anything. Under about three threads the pair will not start at all. Over about ten it starts easily and strips deep in the hole, which is worse, because it gets assembled.
The strength equivalences, and where they stop being true. Class 8.8 against SAE grade 5 and class 10.9 against grade 8 are genuinely close — 10.9 and grade 8 are within a third of a per cent on proof stress — but the gaps do not have the same sign on every measure. Grade 5 is about one per cent above 8.8 on proof stress and three and a half per cent above on ultimate, while 8.8 is a shade above grade 5 on yield. Neither is simply stronger. And the comparison is between MATERIALS: the bolts also differ in tensile stress area, both because the diameters differ and because the two standards define the area with different coefficients (0.938194 for metric, 0.974279 for unified), so equivalent materials do not give equivalent proof loads. A2-70 stainless is the one that surprises people: it is thirty per cent below class 8.8 on yield, and ISO 3506 defines no proof load stress for it at all, so the quantity every torque table is built on does not exist for the material.
Mixing the two systems in a load-bearing joint is a defect. Not a compromise, not a field expedient, not something to note and move on from. The reasons are cumulative. The engagement is a fraction of what the design assumed and cannot be measured after assembly. The joint passes every check that can be applied to it. The failure mode is stripping, which is sudden and complete rather than progressive. And on a tapped hole it is not recoverable: a stripped female thread has to be drilled out and inserted or the part scrapped. The same applies to a spanner: an imperial spanner two tenths of a millimetre loose on a metric head bears on the corners instead of the flats and rounds them at the torque where the joint mattered, and a rounded head has no second chance either. Pipe threads deserve the same sentence for a different reason — a G ½ and a ½ NPT share fourteen threads per inch and differ by 1.84 per cent on diameter and by five degrees of flank angle, 55 against 60, so the male will enter and will not seal.
Frequently asked questions
Is an M5 the same as a #10-32?
No. The major diameters are 5.000 and 4.826 mm, which is 0.174 mm and 3.6 per cent apart; the pitches are 0.800 and 0.79375 mm, which is 0.79 per cent apart. So the pitches are close enough to be inside a commercial thread class and the diameters are not, and the pair fails on diameter at the first turn. The asymmetry matters: an M5 bolt is too big to enter a #10-32 nut and you find out at once, while a #10-32 bolt drops into an M5 nut, turns freely and holds on almost nothing. The combination that assembles is the one that fails.
Is class 8.8 the same as SAE grade 5?
Close, and not the same. On proof stress grade 5 is about one per cent higher (586 against 580 N/mm²); on ultimate it is three and a half per cent higher; on yield class 8.8 is very slightly higher. The gaps do not all run the same way, which is why the pairing is a shorthand rather than an equivalence. Two further cautions. SAE grade 5 falls from 85 to 74 ksi proof above one inch, and comparison charts nearly always print only the small-size row. And the comparison is between materials: the bolts differ in stress area as well, so equal materials do not give equal proof loads.
How does A2-70 stainless compare with 8.8?
It is weaker on both measures that can be compared, and on the measure that matters most there is nothing to compare. A2-70’s 0.2 per cent proof strength is 450 N/mm² against class 8.8’s specified yield of 640, about thirty per cent down, and its minimum tensile strength is 700 against 800. ISO 3506 defines no proof load stress at all, so the number every torque table is built on does not exist for it. Take torque figures from the stainless maker rather than scaling a steel table, and allow for galling: austenitic stainless seizes on itself, the friction rises during tightening and a seized fastener is destroyed on removal.
Will a 13 mm spanner fit a 1/2 inch bolt?
Yes, and it will damage it. Half an inch is 12.70 mm, so a 13 mm spanner has 0.30 mm of slack — enough that it bears on the corners of the hexagon rather than on the flats, and the corners yield at the torque where you needed the joint. It is worth being clear about the direction, because the usual charts state it backwards: the METRIC spanner is the loose one here. A half inch spanner will not go onto a 13 mm head at all, which is the safe failure. The genuinely interchangeable pairs are much closer than either: 27 mm against 1-1/16 inch is 0.0125 mm apart and 46 against 1-13/16 is 0.0375.
What about 19 mm and 3/4 inch?
Three quarters of an inch is 19.05 mm, so the pair is 0.05 mm apart and is effectively interchangeable. The detail the charts leave out is which metric bolt has a 19 mm head: it is the DIN 931/933 M12, not the ISO 4014 M12, which is 18 mm. ISO 272:1982 changed the across-flats on four sizes — M10, M12, M14 and M22 — and the DIN products kept the older figure, so whether you have a near-miss depends on which standard your bolt was made to and not just on its thread.
How many threads of engagement does a mismatched pair get?
Divide half a thread height by the pitch difference. One thread height is 0.5413 × pitch, so for two threads 0.79 per cent apart at a 0.8 mm pitch that is about thirty-four threads — deeper than any ordinary nut, which is why such a pair assembles happily if the diameters allow it. For two threads 5.5 per cent apart it is under five, so the pair binds within a few turns and the mistake is caught. Counter-intuitively the closer pair is the more dangerous one, because it is the one that gets built into something.
Can I use a metric bolt in an imperial tapped hole in an emergency?
In a load-bearing joint, no. The engagement is a fraction of what was designed, nothing about it is visible after assembly, it will pass a torque check because most of the torque is friction rather than flank contact, and the failure mode is stripping rather than breaking — so the joint opens rather than cracking where an inspector could find it. On a tapped hole it is also not recoverable: the female thread is destroyed and the part needs drilling out and inserting or scrapping. If the hole is already damaged, a thread insert in the correct size is the repair; a bolt from the wrong system is not.
Related calculators
References
- ISO 261:1998, ISO general purpose metric screw threads — General plan, and ISO 262 for the selected sizes; ASME B1.1 for the unified inch series. Both cited by number and neither reproduced. The diameter and pitch pairs used here are the ones already verified in the CONVERTERS batch that built thread-pitch-and-tpi-converter, from Engineering ToolBox’s UNC and UNF charts, and they reproduce ISO 898-1’s published tensile stress area column to the last printed digit — which is a check on both numbers at once, since the area depends on d and P together.
- ISO 898-1:2013, Mechanical properties of fasteners made of carbon steel and alloy steel — Part 1: Bolts, screws and studs with specified property classes. Copyrighted and cited by number. The property class figures used here are the ones this plugin’s bolt-proof-load page already carries, taken from Kova’s published extract of Table 3 and cross-checked against RoyMech’s table. The class designation is itself computable and that is the point: the first number is the nominal tensile strength in hundreds of N/mm², and the two multiplied give the yield.
- SAE J429, Mechanical and Material Requirements for Externally Threaded Fasteners. Cited by number. The grade figures are the ones already verified in this plugin’s bolt-proof-load page, from STS Industrial’s table with Portland Bolt agreeing on every row it prints. The size dependence is the part that gets dropped in comparison charts: grade 5 falls from 85 to 74 ksi proof above one inch, and grade 2 from 55 to 33 above three quarters.
- ISO 3506-1:2020, Fasteners — Mechanical properties of corrosion-resistant stainless steel fasteners — Part 1: Bolts, screws and studs with specified grades and property classes. Cited by number. The fact this page needs from it is a NEGATIVE one, and it is the reason A2-70 cannot be slotted into a strength chart beside 8.8 and grade 5: ISO 3506 specifies no proof load stress at all. There is nothing to compare, because the quantity the comparison is made on does not exist for that material.
- ISO 272:1982, Fasteners — Hexagon products — Widths across flats, with ISO 4014 and ASME B18.2.1 for the products themselves. Cited by number. The across-flats figures are batch M02a’s, which verified four sizes where ISO 272:1982 changed the width and DIN 931/933 did not — M10, M12, M14 and M22 — against Wikipedia’s ISO 272 table, EKINSUN’s wrench chart and Würth Industry’s DIN/EN/ISO comparison. Those four are exactly the sizes where a metric–imperial spanner near-miss depends on WHICH metric bolt you have.
- Hydraulic Insight, BSP Thread Size Chart: BSPP & BSPT Dimensions, and Valves Online, Explanation of common threads including BSP & NPT — the pair already used and cross-checked for the converters plugin’s thread page — with Nuoan’s G 1/2 vs 1/2 NPT comparison (read 29 September 2026) as a third reading of the one case named here. All three agree that a G ½ and a ½ NPT share 14 threads per inch and differ in flank angle, 55° against 60°, and that a G ½ male will enter a ½ NPT port for a limited distance with the flank contact and the sealing geometry both wrong.
