Types of Eye Lag

Regular Eye Lag

• The head of a regular eye lag has a ring with a small gap. During production the head is molded straight, but is then bent to form the ring. It typically has a thread designed for wood; using it on metal and concrete will render the thread useless and may even be dangerous. It's also not advisable for heavy duty use because the head deforms when carrying too much load, however, it's a cheap and effective way when you need light-duty support. Regular eye lags cannot handle angular loads and should not be used for those applications.

Galvanized Eye Lag

• The head of a galvanized eye lag is continuous because the bend where the gap is supposed to be is welded. As its name suggests, these types are galvanized or coated with zinc for better corrosion resistance. Galvanized eye lags can handle a larger load than regular types, but you should still only use them for light-duty use. You should not use galvanized eye lags for angular loads.

Pierced Eye Lag

• A pierced eye lag has the strongest head among the three types, as the ring on its head is pierced by a machine during production. The whole head does not have any connections or welds. Pierced eye lags can handle medium duty applications and can handle loads as angular as 45 degrees.

Variants

• Some eye lags have drill points, pointed threads, flat threads and shoulders. Drill point eye lags have a point that can easily pierce wood or metal (depending on the type) and there is no need to pre-drill a hole. Pointed threads only need pre-drilling, while flat ones require a ready-made hole. Shoulders add stability and strength to eye lags. A shoulder is an excess metal placed on the area between the head and the thread, adding a wider contact area between the screw and where it is fastened.