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torque seal is hazmat? seriously?

S

sblack

Well Known Member
I ordered some torque seal from ACS. You know, the $2 little tube of colored lacquer. They told me it was hazmat and would cost $65 to ship!!!!

As far as I am aware, this stuff is like nail polish. It makes no sense to me. Of course I removed it from the order.

Anyone have this experience?
 
Did you see this?

"Is there a HazMat charge for this small tube via ground shipping?

No, this is only considered hazardous for air shipments. Orders shipping by ground transit will not incur the hazardous fee."

Maybe have your order shipped slowly, via ground? Or order separately if the rest of your order must come faster?
 
Or you could do what your 1st post implies, and use nail polish.
Real (cheap) Men Do.

That way you save *all* the shipping cost.
 
I was kidding - do people really use it for torque seal? Dollar store nail polish here I come!
 
kamikaze said:
Did you see this?

"Is there a HazMat charge for this small tube via ground shipping?

No, this is only considered hazardous for air shipments. Orders shipping by ground transit will not incur the hazardous fee."

Maybe have your order shipped slowly, via ground? Or order separately if the rest of your order must come faster?
Click to expand...

no is that on the ACS site?
 
Even just shipping $4 worth (2 tubes) from ACS to Kansas costs almost $11 for shipping because there is no option for USPS given on the site. Ridiculous.
 
You know there is another option....

Vlad will ship it to you for only the cost of a meal and a beverage....:D

Of course, the beverage part may exceed ACS's quote :eek:
 
Might want to check with Avery Tools--their torque seal is slightly cheaper--shipping from Fort Worth might not be as much as from the coast.

Steve
 
Torque Seal Hazmat

Yep, same deal. I ordered some torque seal and other items from ACS Canada (their warehouse is in Toronto). They kindly informed me that it was hazmat and would incur $$$ shipping charges. I immediately removed it from my order and luckily found some at my local airport for a reasonable price. Silly!
 
McMaster-Carr

I found the exact same thing when I had to buy another tube because my first one had dried up. ACS was going to charge me HazMat fees, so I found the exact same thing at McMaster-Carr. The tube itself was $3.29 instead of $1.96, but the shipping was reasonable, and when I ordered a bunch of other things I needed from McMaster anyway, it worked out fine.
 
Oh wait, you are in Canada ... the other explanation could be that that comment about ground vs. air shipping actually applies to US shipping, and in Canada it's always Hazmat no matter how you do it.
 
Both torque seal and figner nail polish are hazmats. I get the FAA PR releases on hazmat fines and they get companies for shipping fingernail polish and perfume on occasion. I saw a $200K fine for a case of nail polish once. If they are flamable liquids - hazmat. But if they are shipped by ground not much difference in cost.

A note on ACS shipping charges. What I see on the web site is often not the actual charges when I get the item. quite frequently the invoiced shipping is much less than the web site. I think they have some problem with the shipping claculator.

For me at least, it seems that they use some common sense and do drop small things in the mail when I order by ground, and sometimes even do priority mail.
 
FAA and undeclared hazmats

From todays FAA PR on hazmat fines:

$69,000 against Premier Nail Source, Inc. of Tampa, Fla. The FAA alleges that on Nov. 28, 2014, Premier Nail Source offered a box for shipment on a FedEx flight to Nassau, Bahamas. The box contained six 2-ounce plastic bottles of acetone, and six ?- ounce glass bottles of paint. Both materials are flammable liquids. Workers at the FedEx facility in Tampa discovered the shipment.
 
It was not caught by the FAA and yet they issued the fine? Hmmm . . .

I have torque seal, packing materials, boxes and stamps at home. Is that illegal too? [don't answer that . . .]

Oh - and an address book.
 
Seriously, guys, think about it. It's flammable liquid, even if it's a small quantity.

And seriously, guys, that color your significant other didn't like is still in her drawer. Seriously. It works. Try it. You'll like it. You can color-code all your - oh, never mind.
 
Hazmat stuff

The interesting thing about the Hazmat rules is that if you are the carrier and you discover that hazmats were shipped and not identified by the shipper and you don't notify the FAA then the carrier can also be fined. Motivation to turn in offenders.

It seems that most unidentified hazmats are caught by the carriers when something leaks and shows through the packaging or there is an odor.

Some guys shipping carbs (as well as other components) and not completely draining them have gotten nailed when the fuel in the float bowl leaked out of the package.
 
Scott let me know i have some if you need it this weekand
Will be in airport tomorrow
 
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I get mine free from the local FBO, they have to label it with a date when purchased and expire it long before it is no longer usable. They always have 3/4 full tubes that are still good but have to be thrown away.
 
If any of the suggested products don't meet your benchmark,
Nail polish, pen paint ect. You can use acrylic paint from the craft store.
Comes in the same size bottle as "pure govmt. approved certified and tested
Torque seal:)
Cost ? A couple of bucks at most.
 
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The other option is to simply make sure you put a wrench on all the items before you closeout the area - no hazmat requred there either. This also saves you from forever cleaning out the chunks of dried bird$#*t (the industry term) that invariably falls off and ends up in the deep recesses of your fuselage.

This torque stripe is used on initial inspection in a production environment to indicate the part has been properly torqued and inspected. It does NOT provide an additional locking capability for the fastener, nor does it indicate the fastener is still tight after a few hours of service. Broken torque seal is often found on tight fasteners and unbroken torque seal is often found on loose fasteners.

Some people believe the application of torque stripe provides a quick way to inspect the area at condition inspection - not true. The only way to verify torque is to put your hands on it.
 
You're right about most if not all of that, of course. I use it immediately after torquing a nut so that I can know for sure which ones I've done and which ones I haven't. I know I'll probably miss some otherwise.
 
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