need 4-40 thumbscrews

Plus, of course, he's asking for a US fastener in a metric length. Not something you see every day. He might just find the pieces in stock if he didn't mix his systems.

A 6-32 screw 3mm long would be shorter than its diameter. Not a common item for any type of screw, much less a thumbscrew.

John Martin

In the catalog I have, Small Part, Inc. #22, they have listed what they call thumb screws down to #4-40 with a stud length of

3/8" in nickel plated brass (10 for $6.15), 18-8 stainless (10 for $20.40) and 6/6 nylon (10 for $1.75). These are round headed..about 5/16 diameter by 7/32 tall like found in light fixtures. They also have a listing form "cap screw knobs" which are the plastic knobs that fit on socket head cap screws. They also go to #4-40 and are about 5/16 diameter x 11/64 tall @ 10 for $2.10. Contact info is: Small Parts Inc. 13980 NW 58th Court Miami Lakes, FL 33014 800-220-4242 Phone 800-423-9009 Fax URL snipped-for-privacy@smallparts.com email R. W>> An>>

ok, does the nut have to be the width I want to keep, so the nut would preserve the whole screw length that I want to use Or can the nut be narrow and I screw it up to where I want to file. 'cos if I did that, i am not sure if the area between the nut and the head would be preserved.

thanks.

...

The nut straightens the end of the threads, if they bent during filing, when you take it off. While filing just put the nut somewhere above the cutoff point. If threads above the are getting damaged for some reason (eg clamping in a vise) put on more than one nut.

If you don't get good enough results with nuts, you could buy a 4-40 die for a few dollars and use that to clean up the threads after cutting off the bolt or filing it to length.

Some electrician's pliers have bolt cutoffs where you thread a bolt into a 4-40, 6-32, etc. hole in the side of plier head, then squeeze the pliers to shear the bolt. This gives a clean cut and straightens the end of the threads as you take the bolt out.

H O W M A N Y D O Y O U N E E D ?

Jim

These pliers are the way to go! They have worked well for me for years.

Leonard

On 21 Sep 2004 14:29:13 -0700, q_q snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk (Anon) calmly ranted:

This should illustrate things well.

===================================================================== -=Everything in Moderation,=- NoteSHADES(tm) glare guards -=including moderation.=-

[ ... ] [ ... ]

Agreed. And the 6-32 is an unusually coarse thread for its diameter. That results in only 3.78 threads -- assuming that the threads are complete right up to the underside of the head.

All in all -- a strange requirement.

Enjoy, DoN.

I just tried that. The problem is that I need to file to a threadless part of the shaft, otherwise it won't fit. and the thread - as with all screws, is slanted, right handed in fact. So I try to file it down, I get past the RHS part of the thread, but as soon as I get to the LHS part of the thread , there's a RHS of the next thread. I just want a bit of screwless shaft so the screw will fit. What's the correct term for 'screwless shaft' (in the world of screws of course - not sure what it means outside of that!)?

LHS=left hand side RHS=right hand side

Dog point.

Say, just out of curiosity, how many of those things *do* you need?

Jim

I don't understand exactly what you mean here, or even inexactly for that matter. Maybe you will get better help if you say what you are trying to fasten together. Eg, "I want to attach a teacup to my VCR" (if that is what you are trying to do) and explain the size of the teacup, what it's made of, any special constraints, etc., speaking not in terms of the 4-40 thumbscrew fastener you've decided you need, but instead in terms of what you are trying to fasten together and how many.

Some advice - Post a picture on a website. (A picture of what you want to fasten together ~ not of yourself unless you are unusually photogenic. See

if you need help posting pictures or don't have a webpage of your own.) Post to one newsgroup, not three. (I don't see this as relevant to sci.electronics and probably not sci.electronics.repair either.) Use short, direct sentences.

-jiw

[ ... ]

Instead of filing -- you want a small lathe with collets to turn the thread off of the end. Or to buy screws already so made if you can, and just adapt the to becoming thumbscrews.

As has already been mentioned by another followup -- "Dog Point screw". These are most commonly available as setscrews. Go for an Allen head setscrew which is long enough to fit your thumbnut, and which already has the dog point. (It is typically unthreaded for about the same length as its diameter -- though there is some variation available.

The alternative, if you need enough of them, is to find someone local with an automatic screw machine to make the whole screw as a single part. However, that is more likely to have a knurled round head, instead of a flat such as you have been describing. Often, they will also have a slotted head, so you can use a screwdriver to start them if they get stuck.

However -- be prepared to give more detail and to discuss with the owner *exactly* what will suffice for your task. Otherwise, you are stuck paying for something which he makes which meets all of the things which you did think to tell him, and may not meet requirement which you did not think to tell him about.

Good Luck, DoN.

Including things like *quantity* for example.

Sounds to me like anon is posting out of another ng, and not even looking at most of the replies in rcm. This has that subtle aroma of troll.

Heck, they were just a few screws, there's probably a poster here who could just *make* the darn things.

Jim