Paul,
This may be of interest to others on the rotary newsletter. If you think so,
please forward it.
Do you want me to "re-enroll you on the KIS list since you are back?
Bill Schertz
KIS Cruiser #4045
Hello Fellow Amateur Experimental Aircraft Builders,
Some background: Recently a fellow builder in a posting to a web based group
that I belong to expressed his complete disgust with Phillips drive screws. I
responded that there were superior alternatives such as hex socket, Torx, and
Torx Plus drive screws that were being used in modern aerospace vehicles, but
that it was very difficult to find and expensive to buy such screws in small
quantities for our use. There then ensued a series of postings back and forth
saying "are too" / "are not". The result was a another search on my part for
such a souce -- I have potentially located one.
John Fleisher of Micro Fasteners has offered to procure and stock some T20,
Torx drive, 8-32x5/8 inch, 100 degree countersink, flat head screws in 18-8
stainless steel. These will be special ordered, but he will be able to
provide them at an extremely attractive price. (Compare to MS24694C7 Phillips
drive screws from Aircraft Spruce or Skybolt). Before he commits to the
significant expense of stocking these screws he needs some assurance that
there is indeed a market for these screws at the price he is going to charge.
Here is where you come in. If you have a sincere interest in purchasing some
of these screws please contact John very soon by email at
<microfasteners@hotmail.com> as he will be making his purchase / non purchase
decision within two weeks. John's proposal, questions, and concerns that he
must resolve are contained in his email to me (slightly edited) directly
below:
" OC, We can buy 8-32x5/8 100 deg. torx T15 or torx T20 18-8 stainless to
sell for$14.50/100, and the dollars on our shelf would be small enough to put
in up to 4 or 5 different sizes if necessary.
This supplier doesn't stock any finished goods, so we couldn't have saved on
the screws we've supplied to you so far, but for the future we only need to
feel that we can move 5000-10,000 pieces at those prices to go ahead. Hex
sockets are only about 10% less expensive, so let's forget them for now.
So if you will indicate to your fraternity that we can supply them at the
$.15/screw level and see what kind of reaction occurs, we would be willing
to go ahead and order this size now. Let me know. John @ Micro Fasteners "
Now some personal notes:
1) I have no dollar dog in this fight -- I am not connected financially to
Micro Fasteners in any way, but I am a long time satisfied customer and have
made purchases from them in the past including some very expensive specially
ordered screws. They have a web site at <<www.microfasteners.com>> and a
printed catalog for their existing standard products that they will mail to
you if requested.
2) I too feel that Phillips drive screws are inferior to hex socket, Torx,
and Torx Plus Drive.
3) The 8-32x5/8 100 degree flat head, T20 Torx drive 18-8 stainless steel
screws are my recommendation to John based on my perception of the most
commonly needed screw. I could be wrong. If you have more / better choices
please let John know the specifics, but realize that he can not afford to
stock too many sizes of specially ordered screws.
4) I feel that these screws are acceptable for structural use in our amateur
built experimental aircraft. I base this opinion on the fact that the similar
Phillips drive structural MS24694C screws are also made of 85 ksi tensile
strength stainless steel.
5) I have searched for a source of such screws for several years without
success until now and I think that John's offer is a significant break
through. I will be letting John know that I will order 300 if he decides to
stock them based on the responses that he gets.
6) Again, please contact John very soon by email at
<microfasteners@hotmail.com> if you have a sincere interest. I apologize for
the use of this group to put out this off topic message, but I feel that it
could be of real service to many fellow builders.
7) I have one other request, if you participate in some other internet
builder's group and you think that any of their members would benefit from
this information would you please forward a copy of this posting to that
group? Many thanks.
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