Screw Holders

[rsterne]

How many of you have had to shorten a screw and either damaged it, lost it, or even worse had it injure you?.... Yeah, pretty much everyone that works in a shop has burned their fingers, or had the grinder grab a screw and launch it into oblivion or crunch it to an unusable state.... Pliers?.... Nope, useless, been there, done that, got the T-shirt.... Well here is an idea I came up with to avoid that problem, and it even straightens the theads when you are finished munching on them....



Just take a piece of scrap band iron or angle, and drill and tap some holes in it for the different screws you commonly use, particularly the smaller sizes, which are so difficult to hang onto.... I used a piece of 1" x 1/8" for the machine screws, and a piece of 3/16" thick 1"x1" angle for the bolts.... I marked the ends to indicate what the threads were with a Dremel.... You simply insert the screw in the hole, let it stick out the back, and put your finger against the head to prevent it from rotating and grind away.... The metal works like a heat sink to some degree, if it gets hot enough to burn your finger, you likely are getting the screw too hot and destroying the temper anyway, time to dunk it.... If it's a really short setcrew, stick an allen key in the socket to keep it from turning while you grind it....

Finally, a way to shorten screws without losing or destroying them or getting hurt.... I'm sure somebody else thought of this long ago, but I've never seen it before....

Bob

[Roadworthy]

Thanks for the tip, Bob.  I just generally grind or burn my fingers.

For small screws I do have pliers for cutting them which kind of repair the threads when screws are removed but they only go up to number ten.

[rsterne]

The only cutters I have seen for screws won't cut high-tensile screws without damage....

Bob

[ezman604]

For smaller screws, I use my crimpers/strippers. Most of them have built in screw cutters.

Yep, burnt my fingers many times and launched a few in my day.

[sixshootertexan]

I just never think about posting stuff like this. I have one I made when I did my prod clone to file down the 8-32 low profile screws. While I was at it I drilled and tapped a 10-32. If you use material the same thickness as the length screw you want just file it flush. Since I was only going from 1/4" to 3/16" a good file will do and no heat to damage the screw.

[Rubicon_Joey]

I've always just used a nut and vise grips. Have had a few get loose and launch due to aggressive grinding but, no burnt or ground fingers.

[SpiralGroove]

Hey Guys,
Have ground my finger tips and had the screw fly out of the pliers/vise grips many times - can't believe I haven't lost one lately.  Kind of like shooting springs
The finger's do take awhile to heal as everythings gone.........
Now days, it seems all airguns have metric threads; need to buy metric drills, taps and nuts to use this approach - which is a sure bet .
Off to Harbor Freight..........but no metric drills...........  

[Bicycleman]

But doesn't that take all the fun and adventure out of grinding a screw/bolt?   

Thanks, Bob; that is a good idea and will save a finger or two.

[RHytonen]

I always use a couple of nuts and a vise.

[rsterne]

And if the screw is too short for that approach?....

Bob

[Bicycleman]

I use a couple of nuts too.  And if the screw is too short, I let one of the nuts hold it all by himself!   

[JMJ in NC]

I've been using this technique for years. Nice to see I'm not the only one.

If I need to cut a few to a specific length, I'll machine the holding plate thickness to the desired screw length, then sand them until I'm just grazing the plate surface.

I prefer to sand to length as it heats the screw less than grinding.

If your holding plate is aluminum and reasonably large, it will also absorb a lot of the excess heat, reducing the likelihood of annealing the screw.

JMJ

[MultimediaMan]

I'm with JMJ: I've used cutoff blocks for a long time.

For "gang" work, I have a screw cutoff apparatus (dremel cutoff wheel on a hinged joint) with a V block for the Screw. I'll post some pics of it...