Plastic Screws

[trakwebster]

I've seen several references to plastic screws. Although I've seen nylon bolts and nuts in the MSC Industrial catalog (www.mscdirect.com (http://www.mscdirect.com)), I cannot seem to locate any 'plastic screws'. The few web searches seemed to lead nowhere. Elsewhere on this forum, somebody said that 'Raptor sells plastic screws,' but I cannot seem to find Raptor either.

Anybody know where to buy plastic screws?

[davidallen]

Arthur,

www.raptornails.com (http://www.raptornails.com)
sells plastic nails and staples. At one time they were working on coarse thread wood screws.

You might call them and see if they can refer you to a source of screws.

da

[trakwebster]

Thanks for the tip!

I will call them. However, it sort of sounds like maybe there is no such thing as 'plastic screws', despite the occasional reference to them.

Has anybody ever actually seen or touched a 'plastic screw'?

[patricktoomey]

What about making a quick mold of an appropriate size screw and then casting your own using something like this...
http://www.rplastics.com/resins.html
It would be easier to buy them if you can find them but if not then casting should be fairly fast. Also, since you wouldn't need to replace them very often you wouldn't need to make large quantities.

[bill.young]

Arthur,

Raptor are the folks that had them. They were never listed in their catalogs or web site that I could find but they used to have them in their booths at shows like the WoodenBoat Show...not sure if they were a regular item or not.

Bill

[trakwebster]

Then I'll persist with the Raptor folks. I've been in the shop all day today, but will try calling them tomorrow.

[dhunt]

Please let us know what you find out, becoz
(Raptor may not know this but..)
there might be quite a lil market out there for plastic screws,
among the CNC router-table community

[stevedavidpotter]

This any good ??

Uk company Moss Plastics

http://www.mossplastics.com/mss/mss-pc.nsf/WebEngine?OpenAgent&cmd=category&category=XDER-6ETL2V-20948&refcategory=XDER-6ETKZM-55200

[gerald_d]

Does www.Skiffy.com (http://www.Skiffy.com) operate out there? They are only one of a couple of suppliers of plastic screws out here.

[trakwebster]

Hi, botters,

I spoke today with the nice folks at Raptor (actually 'Utility Composites, Inc' in Round Rock, Texas) and although their catalog at http://www.raptornails.com doesn't show any screws, they do have one plastic screw. It is 1" in length, and the nice lady is sending me a couple as samples.

If these work, they'd be nice for attaching (from the underside) a spoilboard or jig to the underlying table.

The lady who works there suggests, however, using one of their nails if attaching plywood to the table to be cut. (I personally don't like the idea of messing up my beautiful spoilboard! But maybe I'll feel differently after I've messed it up!)

Maybe I'll know more soon.

[trakwebster]

I got the sample plastic screws from the Raptor folks. Although these are not going to work well in my particular application, I'll be theyh'll work for many folks. They have plastic 'nails' and they have some plastic 'screws' which look to me similar to sheet metal screws.

However, today I did a google search for "nylon screw OR bolt" and found a ton of references, including one company called AJ Fasteners down in Anaheim CA. I've worked with Keith at AJ Fasteners for years, and always had good luck, so I'm calling him tomorrow. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place. I guess I thought that nylon or plastic would be some sort of special thing.

[handh]

I don't know if this helps you or is a option, McFeely.com has aluminum screws.

[trakwebster]

The folks at Raptor sent me samples of plastic nails, and of plastic screws. These screws remind me of sheet metal screws, with a fairly wide thread spacing, and threads cut deep, and the entire screw pointed like metal or wood screws.

Although I don't think these are going to work so well for my particular application, I'll bet they'll work well for many applications.

Today I spoke with AJ Fasteners in Anaheim, CA and it appears that they carry nylon bolts which I think will work for me. (www.mscdirect.com (http://www.mscdirect.com) has a selection as well.)

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

[trakwebster]

Hello, Jeffrey Hamilton,

Is the idea of using aluminum that the metal is soft enough that a cutter hitting them causes no big problem? Just curious.

In other news about nylon --

I've found appropriate nylon bolts from AJ Fasteners. (Not wanting to sound like a commercial, I have no affiliation with AJ Fasteners other than as a customer of some years.)

In this case I'm bolting 2" stock to the top of the table for some cutting and carving.

I wanted fairly large nylon bolts and so obtained hex head cap screws of 3/8" diameter by 3" long. These will anchor into Tee-Nuts which are installed into the bottom surface of the jig.

The nylon bolts are pricey, but when the cutter moves over their heads with a clearance of 1/4" I'll feel much more comfortable when those heads are nylon rather than steel.

Thanks for all the suggestions, leads, and good ideas.