Day: July 7, 2015

Use of Hardibacker Screw in installing Floor Tiles

Planning to restore your kitchen floor tiles or mend a damaged piece, but worried of the expenses? Well, you need not have to rely upon the expensive tradesman, who can unnecessarily exceed your budget line. You can volunteer for this job and all you need is to have a clear knowledge about the processes involved.

After understanding the method involved, you’ll now have to accumulate all the required ingredients, such as the hardibacker board, hardibacker screws, trowel, mixer and accurate drill and so on.

The hardibacker board is the brainchild of James Hardie Company and comprises of 90% of Portland cement and sand. Such types of floor tiles are fabricate resistant and are ideal for water-logged or wet areas. These days, these tiles are in much demand and most of the new constructions are seen installing these boards in the kitchen, bathroom as well as in utility areas.

Always remember that such kind of flooring supply is not any structural element, so if your kitchen’s floor molds due to improper joists then restoring task won’t help you much until and unless you fix the underlying architectural issues. Such tiles only enable a solution to bridge the existing gap between the plywood and floor tiles. And also keep in mind that you’ll need hardibacker screws to install those concrete pieces.

Here are some of the basic steps to look after

Step 1

The installing procedure will include grinding and levelling concrete floors to screwing a wooden subfloor with the above mentioned fasteners. However, you’ll always require a dry, reasonably flat surface for this job.

Now you’ll have to go for 1/4th inches of backer board and you certainly require special kind of screws, known as the hardibacker screws. These are slightly different than the usual screws. Plus, their threads are specifically designed to pull down the head of the screws for proper positioning. We highly suggest you not to go for drywall screws.

Step 2

Now we should go for the subway pattern, which is quite a popular technique followed in flooring. It is usually an offset pattern. You should always remember to ignore any excess amount of pieces. Measure both ends and draw a line, which helps you in laying the tiles in straight rows.

Step 3

Now mix up the pudding texture by using a mixer in your drill and with the flat edge of your trowel, you can start spreading the mixture in thin layer called as scratch coat next to the straight frame. Now before the coat dried up, apply some more thinset in rows. By applying the paste in rows, you can allow the air to escape as you set the tiles.

Step 4

This step is known as grouting. By now you would have left the tiles overnight for setting. You can now use a cleaning tool to remove the extra thinset from the surface and also from the joints. Now mix up a portion of sand grout by adding bit water so as to avoid the paste to become thin. Now spread the grout onto the floor, by using a margin towel scoop and rubber float held at 45 degree angle.

Required Supplies

Thinset mortar

Ceramic floor tile

Tile Grout

Hardibacker screws
Mixing paddle

Foam sponges

Tile cutter

Tape measure

Nippers

Trowel

Rubber float

Snake Eye Screws: Ensuring Protection against Vandalism

The snake eye screws, which are also known as twin hole tamper resistant security screws or pig nose screws feature two small holes drilled into the head. You will require a special type of twin pin driver to both fasten and release the rivets. These fasteners are produced from A2 stainless steel and are ideal for both internal and external use.

Snake Eye Screws

These metal pieces are also available as Self Tappers and machine screws in Countersunk Head and Pan Head types and also as Pan Head or Raised Countersunk Head. All these fasteners are available in box quantities of 100. Normally, these spanner bits are available in various sizes, such as #4, #6, #8 and #10.

However, be warned that there are also metric snake eyes fasteners available in the market, where hole spacing does not match spanner and also these hole sizes are different. Such fasteners are highly recommended to be used where safety is strongly required. Such kinds of tiny metal pieces ensure protection and have made our homes and industries hassle-free and secured because of their tamper resistant characteristics. Because of their tamper-proof qualities, these are also known as vandalism resistant screws, as they ensure high security to the objects, which are prone to break-in or larceny.

Because of these special qualities, these are now most commonly used in industrial sectors. Primarily, these rivets flaunt atypical tops, which help restrict the users to easily loose them by simple screw drivers. Apart from the regular slots, the Phillips-head type drivers are also useless to unscrew them.

Snake Eye screws arguably feature the edge in terms of design. It is for such kind of aesthetic reason that such metal holders often get the vote. However, they do possess certain limitations, such as they have the lowest torque i.e. they cannot be fastened like other regular screws. And ironically, this particular feature makes them stand out.

As fast removing is extremely crucial in their cases, they have now become a favorite among the homeowners, as they reduce the possibility of vandalism to a greater extent. We, at Renovator’s Supply, do offer huge orders on daily basis. Not only home owners, but we get orders in bulk amount from various industries as well.

Instead of visiting physical stores, you can go online to fetch some real good deals. Plus, you always have the advantage to be exposed to a wider options and ranges, which physical stores usually lack.

The Blueprint of Dowel Screws

The Mutual Screw and Supply offers a huge range of steel zinc plated dowel screws in a variety of sizes and gauges. We, at Mutual Screw, offer you these fasteners at all desired lengths and thread pitches.

Structure of a Dowel screw

So what is a dowel screw?

It is basically a rod-shaped metal fastener, enabled with two tapered ends and spiral threads. It is usually pointed on both ends and is used to fasten two soft objects such as wood together.

Dowel screw section through and Dowel screw 3D View

This kind of screw is generally used with furniture and other woodcraft pieces, so as to create a joint with visible connectors. One half of the length of metal fastener is screwed into the surface of the joint, so that the two objects can be easily rotated together or apart. The connecting surfaces are then aligned at the meeting point and spun in the desired place to drive the other half of the screw all the way in.

The rigid parallel grooves present on the exterior grip of this Tacoma screw, bears the material firmly, while the fastener is driven into.

Dowel and Dowel screw

Usually the dowel screws are made up of steel to endure increased strength and these are available in a wide variety of thread pitches and diameters, so as to meet the requirements of projects in various industries.

Most of these fasteners are zinc plated and also galvanized. This kind of coating protects these metal pieces from corrosion when exposed to moisture.

How to drive a dowel screw?

The installation procedure of dowel screws involves a special kind of screwdriver.

Dowel screw Driver and a screw

Have you ever thought how to drive a screw, which features only threads and no head? Well, this kind of rivet cannot be fastened or unscrewed with a normal screw driver. You’ll require a dowel screw driver, through which you can install the screw by using a cordless or an electric drill. All you need is to put this driver into the chuck, thread the fastener into it and then drive it in. The drill should be then reversed to remove the driver.

These fastening devices are usually driven into pre-drilled holes, which are slightly narrower and shorter than the screws.

Dowel screw driven in to a pre drilled hole of a Wood base

You may flatten the threads by holding the screws with a pair of pliers of vise grips. This may damage the fastener, thereby making it useless. Hence, you should always go for specialized kind of dowel screw driver heads, which are designed to insert the fastener into a surface without spoiling the threads.

What if you don’t have a suitable driver?

Once you install the steel zinc plated dowel screw in both joint surfaces, unscrewing them becomes quite difficult, unless you have a suitable driver to loosen them. People usually tend to make a common mistake by applying brute force, in order to pull out the connection. This eventually causes damage to one or both of the connected pieces.

Different screws

In some special cases, when you don’t have a suitable tool, these metal pieces can be carefully sawed in half to cut apart the connection without making any damage. The protruding part of each severed section can be now gripped with pliers and twisted out completely.

When multiple dowel screws are employed on the same joint, they then share the weight load and increase the strength of the juncture.

Self Assembly Furniture with dowel screws

These rivets are sometimes used with self-assembly furniture (also known as knock-down furniture or flat pack furniture and is mainly a form of furniture, which is purchased in multiple pieces and requires assembly. This type of furniture is sold in a box, containing instructions for the user to follow in order to assemble it after purchase).

The instruction manual for assembly may also demand for wood glue, which is applied on the pre-drilled hole before driving in these screws. Once the glue gets dried, the fasteners are then installed into the adjacent surface.

gap on furniture to fix the screws

These screws are specially designed, so that they can be easily twisted without use of any tools, by hand. However, always remember over tightening of these screws into a particle board or in any inexpensive furniture may create cracks, thereby affecting the stability of the piece.

Specifications

Material: AISI 1008 & 1010 steel
Core Hardness: 3/16 through 3/8 in. diameter, all lengths: Rockwell B70 – B100
Tensile Strength: 3/16 through 3/8 in. diameter, all lengths: 60,000 psi. minimum
Plating: Zinc plating
Sizes: #8 X 1 1/4, #3/16 X 1, #3/16 X 1 1/4, #3/16 X 1 1/2, #3/16 X 1 3/4, #3/16 X 2

procedure to attach the parts with Dowel screw

You can visit here to know more about dowel screws.

Types and Uses of Dowel Pins

A dowel pin is a solid tubular rod, made up of plastic, wood or metal. It is also known as dowel rod, which is often cut into short pieces known as dowel pins. This particular fastener is used in various applications, such as in gymnastic grips, detents, axles in toys, structural adjuncts, such as in cabinet making and is also used in supporting the wedding cakes.

Its other uses include the following:

Used as pegs or moveable game parts
Used as furniture self supports
Used for hanging items, such as toilet paper, key rings, clothes, wall hangings etc.
Used as a pivot to wrap cable or textiles
Used to correctly align two objects in a dowel joint i.e. a hole is made in both the objects and this fastener is tucked into the aligned holes

Wooden Dowel Pins

For prudent manufacturing extents, wooden pegs are produced extensively on industrial dowel machines, which produce such wooden pieces of various diameters by their interchangeable cutting heads. Thus, as per the requirement and orders, fasteners are produced of certain diameters. Each head features a hollow chuck (a specific kind of clamp used to hold any object) and cutting knives, through which the wood is cut into desired shapes and sizes. These wooden fasteners are used in furniture industry, to reinforce joints and support shelves in cabinet making.

Metal Dowel Peg

The metal pegs are mainly used in masonry to embed stone components together. In this case, holes are made in the stone and the steel fasteners are inserted so as to fasten the components. These are used as locating devices in machinery to manage tolerance. They feature smaller diameter and thus, they easily slip into the hole. In automobiles, when accurate mating alignment is required, these metal pieces are used. They are used in transmissions, differential gear casings and in engines.

The dowel pins are used in various fields, as they exhibit diverse features and specifications. You can easily avail them online. The Internet is flooded with numerous web stores, dealing with such items. So, its always better to do a deep research before settling down on any particular company.

Screw Bins: Helping You Get Over the Mess at Your Workshop Pad

Is your workshop pad full of mess? Is your foundry mayhem and is your hardware supplies lay in shambles? You can blame your old-fashioned habit of using outdated jam jars to store them. Don’t you get irritated putting all those items back into jar each time you pour them out on your bench? Well, this is indeed one area you would always think of fixing it first. Chances are you must not be aware about the screw bins.

Screw Bins With the availability of such kind of advanced amenities, it has become easy for us to manage our assets and essentials in a more organized way. Plus, their designs always render a fashionable look even to our overlooked closets. These days, with the increasing demand for such type of chambers, the market is today flooded with numerous companies dealing with various kinds of plastic storage canisters. These are usually light in weight and are also available in rugged pattern to manage fasteners in huge quantities.

We, at Mutual Screw and Supply, deal with a wide variety of cabinets, ranging from light-weight and rugged to shelving caddies and shelf polystyrene bins. We offer almost everything you are looking for to streamline your hardware system, including various kinds of screws and even other fasteners as well. We offer high quality tried & tested items, which have always helped our customers in their distinct jobs

These containers are available in various colors, including blue, red, yellow etc. and are mostly attached to any shelving unit or hung on the wall by using louvered frames. The open style front of such canisters enables us to easily fetch our desired item from the box. You can browse our product page to check-out the wide range of models offered in our store. There are over 20 different sizes available in our warehouse and all of these baskets can be attached on a single type of panel, thereby enhancing their utility.

The screw bins can also be used as a bundle of plastic storage crates. These come in handy and reasonable pricing, thereby giving you the best solution to fix up your mess on your workshop bench.

All You Wanted to Know About Cutting Tools

In terms of machining definition, a cutting tool is a kind of appliance, which is used to remove material from the workplace by means of clipping deformation.

A Chart That shows Different types of Cutting tools

These tools have been in usage in metal machine industry since the late 19th century and are mostly used for metalworking such as broaches, band-saws and drills. What started off initially as appliances, which were tedious and laborious to use, now are more simplified and advanced to get match with modern day instruments. These are readily available in every tool box sold online or at any machinery shop.

The market is today flooded with various types of cutting tools, each serving distinct purposes and applications. All the available types of such devices in the market can be classified as multi-point and single-point cutting tools.

various shapes of Single point Cutting tools

While single point cutting devices are used as scissors for shaping, turning and other similar applications, the multi-point equipment are used as grinding, drilling and milling devices.

Other kinds of machining tools include reamers and fly cutters. While some of these pieces require some kind of manual assistance to perform their job, other devices are already designed to be completely computer generated.

Champion Reamer Design with edge cutting force Distribution

In order to operate properly, these appliances should be able to resist heat, generated during the cutting process and should be stronger than the material, which it’s supposed to cut.

In addition to, the tools should be enabled with distinct geometry, so as to provide precise angles to stop the entire device from being in contact with the material supposed to be cut. Different appliances cater to different cutting requirements and so they possess distinct shapes to match with the job.

Different Milling appliances

The milling appliances are usually small and are bench or floor mounted but sometimes require a huge space within a room. These machining pieces are also used for contouring, drilling, and desinking along with desired surface planing.

Manufacturers are always required to consider several factors in order to ensure that the working life of the tool is optimized.

Different types of cutting tools

Leather Cutting Tools

These are one of the most frequently used types in the industry today. As the name suggests, these are used for manufacturing of the leather products. Since leather is quite expensive, so the tools to run over this material should be efficient enough, so that no damage is done to the surface.

Parts of a Swivel knife

Such types of devices are specially designed to enable perfect clean cuts. Swivel, rotary cutters, utility knives and shears are some of the examples, falling into this category. While swivel knives are ideal for carving out the initial outline of a leather piece, the utility knives feature disposable blades so as to perform deep cuts over the piece.

Swivel Knife - a Leather cutting tool

With right kind of cutting device, this expensive material can be tailored at much ease and precision. They are even efficient in making decorative cuts over the parchment, which are also referred as dress cuts. For cutting soft leather, rotary cutters are used, while leather shears are used for cutting medium weight and light-weight leather.

Metal Cutting Tools

As the name indicates, these devices are supposed to be quite strong to cut the metals efficiently. These tools require frequent sharpening and castling, as they face maximum wear and tear during the sharpening process.

A Metal Cutting tool

In industrial applications, the metal machining devices such as reamers and drills are used to create holes with accurate sizes. In domestic applications, these devices are usually smaller, as they are not meant for heavy-duty processes. The examples for this application include hacksaws and snips.

Various sizes of hacksaws

The size of the snips ranges 5 and 14″. The snips do not remove the metal, instead create small fractures across the edge of the cut. Hacksaws are more advanced, as they are able to cut the metal pieces, which snips fail to do and their examples include metal pipes and bars.

Glass Cutters

These are generally glass cutting tools, which are designed to cut through glass effectively, without making any damage. Their specially designed edges easily snap a piece of glass into any desired shape and style, without any damage. Glass, by nature is quite brittle, so a wrong device can easily break off the glass.

Revolver Cutter and High end oil filled glass cutting tools

The edge of the appliance creates a snap, thereby weakening the targeted area of the glass. This method makes the cutting easier, thereby enabling more control over the desired shape.

Various types of glass cutters are available in the market to match with every individual requirement, be it domestic or commercial purposes.

Band-saws

These types of sharpening devices are mostly used for woodworking and can be easily found in metal shops. This machining appliance has got its name from the circular metal blade, which cuts in rotation across two or three wheels.

A Horizontal Bandsaw Cutting tool

These saws are also used in a horizontal or vertical position. The blade is made stationary and the metal to be cut is pushed towards the blade. The band-saws typically create

Types and Sizes of Drill Bits

In our early edition, we had discussed about the definition of drill bits and some quick facts about these fastening devices. Here, we are going to have a complete cytology of these items. Do have a read!

Drilling Machine with a Drill Bit

Let’s rewind!

What is a drill bit?

Drill bit is a special kind of cutting tool, which is specially designed to fit into a rotating drill. It comes along-with a bit and is used to cut cylindrical holes of various sizes in various kinds of surfaces. The terminologies, such as drill bit and drill are quite often confused, as these terms are used to define the cutter as well as the cutter holder.

These fastening objects are available in different types and sizes. Because of their extensive use in US, as per American standards, a defined set of sizes has been set for these metal pieces.

Various Types and Shapes of drill Bits

The British standardization was enacted in 1959 for the first time for different gauge and metric sizes. Today the US standard is followed everywhere for determining the metric sizes.

The metric drill bit sizes are usually measured in terms of standard metric lengths. The definite size pattern has been set determining the traditionally manufactured and stocked pieces. For instance, a BS 328 item (British Standard) will have size from 0.2 mm to 25.0 mm.

List of Drill bit sizes in MM

The price and availability of a particular size does not change when the size range ascends. Bits are more commonly available at size increments of 1 mm and can be easily found at any web store. If you’r looking for a unique size, say 2.55 mm then you’ll have to specially place an order from a a specialist drill bit supplier.

Most Commonly available sizes of drill bits

Fractional Size

The fractional inch drill bit sizes are quite common in U.S.

The number and letter gauge is mostly used for twist drill bits. It is used as – size 80 (smallest) to size 1 (largest) and size A (smallest) to size Z (largest). Such standardization is set to offer accurate clearance holes for screws as well as bolts.

$Decimal fractional Size equivalents of drill bits$

Different types of drill bits

Twist drill bits

The twist drill bit, which was invented by Steven A. Morse of Massachusetts in 1861, is the most frequently used type in the industry today.

It features a cutting point at the tip of a cylindrical shaft with helical grooves. These grooves act as an Archimedean screw and lift swarf out of the hole.

Length and Diameter specifications of twist drill Bits

The twist bits range in diameter from 0.002 to 3.5 inches and can be as long as 25.5″. The most common twist drill bit features a point angle of 118 degrees and is ideal for use in wood, metal, plastic etc.

The 90 degree type, which is a quite aggressive one, is used for soft plastics. This kind of bit is self-starting and cuts very quickly.

Step drill bits

It is a kind of bit, whose tip is grounded down to a different diameter. The instability between the original diameter and this ground diameter is either angled, forming a countersink or straight, forming a counterbore.

Step Drill Bits Description

The best part of this kind of bit is that both the diameter can have same groove characteristics, which prevents the bit from clogging. Most of these are custom-made, so they are comparatively expensive.

Metal drill bits

These are mostly used in metalworking, so as to enable a hole for a large-sized drill bit. These are also used to create a conical dent in the end of the surface, so as to easily mount a lathe center.

Drill Bits for structural Steel

These are mostly used to create a conical hole between the centers, in places, say lathe or cylindrical-grinder work.

Core drill bit

This kind of rivet is used for dual purposes. It is used to enlarge an existing hole, created from casting or a stamped hole. It is also used for extracting core. In this case, the drill creates a hole with an annular cross-section, thereby making the inner core intact.

Core Drill Bit

In this case, the purpose is only to retrieve the core rather than creating it.

Ejector drill bit

Description of a Ejector Drill Bit

This kind of bit is exclusively used for drilling deep holes of medium to large diameters (from 3/4″ to 4″). The bit uses a specially designed carbide cutter and the entire device looks like a tube within a tube.

Gun drill bit

Gun Drill Bit

These bits are usually straight grooved drills, enabling the cutting fluid to get injected into the drill’s hollow body.

Indexable drill bit

It is mostly used in CNC and in other high precision equipment. This kind of bit.

Specifications of Hex Cap Screws

Hex cap screws are available in slotted flat head, hex head, high round socket head and low round socket head types. These are also available in various grades, including 5 & 8, zinc plated and fine threaded patterns.

They are also available in regular steel as well as in stainless steel, thereby giving the users an ample amount of choice. They can go for a particular pattern and design, which best suits their jobs and requirements. As these fasteners are available in various designs, you will also require specific kind of drivers to fasten and loosen them, such as slotted, hex, Phillips and hex key socket drives.

We even offer other related accessories, including screw nuts, washers, lock nuts and lock washers. Apart from all these, we even offer items on almost all kinds of fasteners, ranging from deck screws, anchor bolts, dowel pins, elevator bolts, flange bolts, blind rivets and much more in the list. All you need is to keep on browsing our extensive range of products to understand the vastness of our offerings. However you can simply type in the product item in the search box, which would then lead you directly to the landing page.

You can settle down on any particular item, which is best suitable for your job. The industrial fasteners are available with either coarse or fine threads. The materials include iron, steel and stainless steel and finishes mat be galvanized, zinc plated, zinc or black phosphate, determining the material of each rivet.

The hex cap screws are usually ordered in bulk amounts from our store and our potential clients usually belong to various manufacturing sectors. These fasteners are available in various sizes, ranging from 6.35 till 76.20 mm in diameter. These type rivets are quite similar to hex bolts.

In certain countries, these are also referred as bolts, but as per the US Govt. document; Distinguishing Bolts from Screws, these fasteners have been classified under the screws category, mainly because of their higher tolerance capacity.

However, the term hex cap screws are referred to various things are various times and places. In US, these are mostly defined by ASME B18.6.2 and ASME B18.3. Earlier, these metal pieces were used in places, where nuts could not be applied. Today, they are used on much wider scale, as they feature advanced properties thereby broadening their usability.

Different Types of Tacoma Screws

The Tacoma screws are a leading brand in the fastener industry. They have been manufacturing different types of screws, bolts, nuts, studs, rivets and various other types of fasteners since 1946. Today, they offer their service to over 40,000 customers from their inventory of whopping 45,000 products.

Almost every product is sold under numerous categories, depending upon size and designs. Because of the abundance in varieties, their products easily satisfy customer requirement and thus, they play favorite among the supply chain industries such as Mutual Screw & Supply.

The tacoma screws are sold here in various categories. The different types of screws include the following:

Deck Screws

As the name suggests, these screws are used in wooden decks, which are made up of thin planks, which are quite prone to harsh environmental conditions. These types of Tacoma screws are specially designed to withstand the challenges, mostly faced by the lakeside houses.

Some of their major advantages include:

They are corrosion resistant
Their installation procedure is easy due to the sharpness of their point
They can align smoothly against the deck surface, which is known as countersinking
Ideal for composite decks, which are made up of pressure-treated wood. Their planks aren’t standard lumber and any regular screw may create ‘mushroom’ i.e. by using regular wood screws, the material can get pulled up in a hump around the screw head.

Dowel Screws

These are mostly cylindrical kind of metal screws, featuring two tapered ends and spiral threads. These are usually pointed on both ends, and thus can easily fasten two soft objects such as wood together.

Such fasteners are generally used with furniture, so as to create a conjunction with visible connectors. While one portion of the entire length is fastened into the joint, the other portion is driven all the way in when the connecting surfaces are aligned at the meeting point.

A 3D view of dowel screw

Drywall screws

As the name suggests, the drywall screws are used when drywall is installed on walls and ceilings. Drywall is a type of building material, which is made up of gypsum and other ingredients crushed between sheets of heavy paper.

These types of tacoma screws are mostly used to secure the drywall to the concerned surface, may be wood or metal framing. Moreover, their special design helps prevent dimpling on the surface. Unlike traditional nails, which leave behind holes/divots in the drywall, the drywall screws are threaded to grip both the framing member and the drywall firmly.

The primary feature of these fasteners, which offer the maximum advantage is their countersunk heads. The entire fastener is flushed within the sheet surface, thereby enabling a smooth finish. The countersunk head prevents the drywall screw from breaking the paper surface, which is a common problem with nails.

Lag Screw

A lag screw is a huge, coarse threaded screw featuring a hexagonal shaped head, used for tightening or loosening of the screw. Unlike regular screws, which require a screwdriver, this kind of screw requires a wrench for its installation.

Its application is quite similar to bolts, as it is used in places where extreme clamping force and strength are mandated. Raising foundation of a home or securing a deck to the wall typically demands the use of a lag screw-mounting application.

Besides, the lag screws are also used in surgery in spiral fractures, swinging doors, mounting gates and garage door tracks.

While fastening a wooden plank or any other wooden piece, a pilot hole should be pre-drilled through the two boards first for easy installation of these Tacoma screws. The pilot hole enables the fastener to be effectively screwed without splitting either of the boards.

Machine Screws

A machine screw, which is also known as a machine bolt, is a typical screw specially designed to be attached to an pre-drilled, tapped hole on any metal surface, which is usually in alliance with a corresponding nut.

This kind of screw is usually smaller than the regular screws and range in size upto 3 quarters of one inch i.e. 19.05 mm. However, it is available in variations, depending upon shape of the head, slot type, length, overall size and material.

The two most commonly used screwdrivers used with machine screws are slotted and Phillips head screwdrivers. Other types of screw drives are also used, such as torx of star-shaped, 6-pointed and so on.

The machine screws are in varied types and are mostly differentiated by the characteristics of the thread.

Thumb Screws

Basic Differences Between Structural and Spax Lag Screws

Most of our readers have asked us couple of times to publish a write-up explaining the general differences between two most commonly used fastener in the industry i.e. spax lag screws and structural screws. This edition will give them a clear idea about how both these screws are installed and their specifications are also clearly explained in this edition. Read on!

Structural Screws

These fasteners are equipped with high strength and so have gained huge popularity in the recent years over the age-old lag screws and are always preferred first for basic applications. This piece will highlight on the pattern, installation procedure and also the pricing, which are important to be consdiered, if you’re thinking between these two rivets.

Types

There are usually three major types widely available in the market, which include the Spax (left), FastenMaster (right) and GRK (center). while the former two are easily found at ant physical store and home centers, the last one is a specialized fastener available only at lumberyards and online.

Benefits

These types of screws are stronger than the geenral lag bolts and are thus ideal for more sturdy connections. Even though they are stronger than lag screws, they are easier to employed since they do not require any pre-drilled or pilot hole. In most cases, you can install all of those screws at real time even before you are done with drilling pilot holes for the lags.

Installation

The structural rivets are made up of high-strength steel, which are even heat-treated so that they will not snap off while fastening. While the shafts of these metal pieces are thinner than lags, they are equal substitutes for a lag.

The threads however vary from brand to brand. While one brand features a drilled tip embedded into the screw point, so as to remove dust while entering into the wood, other brands have different screw threads near the tip, so as to pave ways for the remaining screw threads, which grips the screw into the wood.

Besides above characteristics, these fasteners are either equipped with Torx, having 6 contact points or Spider, with 8 contact points drive heads apart from their traditional hex-head styles. These specially designed heads allow further connection between the screw head and the driver tip, so as to prevent disarming as seen with Phillips or slotted screws.

Specifications

Some contractors may not be aware about the structural screws, so if you are planning tor enovate your basement or deck, you would then definitely have to speak with your the building inspector first, so as to ensure that they approve use of these fasteners. You can download the specifications from the Internet and attach it with your plans, so as to make them clear about your requirements.

In case of spax lag screws, you will have to drill two holes for every lag screw to prevent the wood from breaking away. This is indeed a time consuming task, in case you’re using lag screws in huge numbers. You may even need them in more numbers due to their reduced strength.

Even the structural fasteners have distinct disadvantages too, which lie greatly in their pricing and availability. While the GRK type screws are the most expensive and you can only find them at lumberyards, the Spax and FastenMaster types are sold by home centers, but again these are available in selective sizes, which are commonly used.

A 6″ long by 5/16″ diameter structural rivet may cost you about 85 cents, while you can easily get a spax lag screw at just 30 cents. Therefore, the lag fasteners are mostly preferred over these expensive fastening objects.

Comparison

Lag Screws

These traditional fasteners are hundred years old and are quite inexpensive, as compared to other fasteners. Although these are difficult to be installed, they are still preferred by many.

You’ll have to pre-drill two holes to use them i.e. one small one for the threads and a larger clearance hole for the shaft.

The structural screws are only available at lumberyards and online stores, plus, their quality greatly varies with the brands stocked in most home center

While lag screws on the other hand are easily found at all home centers, webstores and hardware stores, they even cost a third of the price of the former ones

However, there are some hardened lag screws, which feature certain markings such as multiple lines, or a triangle on therir heads. These are bit costlier as compared to the normal lag screws

When it comes to connecting a wood joist or other framing member to a concrete wall, these metal pieces are always a better choice. In such cases, the special lead sleeves are employed into a pre-drilled hole and then the lag screw is fastened into the sleeve

Structural Screws

These types of advanced fasteners make faster connections, but are expensive as compared to general hardware supplies

They are are thin and sharp and do not require pre-drilling unlike lag screws

These are engineered to meet high standards as they are made up of hard and heat-treated steel

These are found only in select stores in certain size and length

These cost several times higher than a similar lag screw