Hi George,
  I have an old edition of the "Machinery's Handbook" by Industrial
Press, Inc. which devotes 6 pages of tables to that topic detailed by
style of self-taping screw, type & thickness of material, and the hole
forming method.

  The book covers just about anything you ever need to know about the
mechanical domain.  I'd surmise that you can find one at the Stanford
library.

73 & Good afternoon,
  Marv WC6W 

http://wc6w.50webs.com


-- gdaught6@stanford.edu wrote:
On 11 Apr 2007 at 8:23, Ian White GM3SEK wrote:

< snip, snip >

> Drill exactly the right size of pilot hole (not too big, not too 
> small)  

Which brought to mind a question that I've been dealing with for 
many, many years:  "What is the correct size pilot hole for self-
tapping sheet metal screws?"  I have always measured the screw at its 
narrowest body diameter (i.e. not at the pointy tip) using a vernier 
caliper with jaws that will fit to the bottom of the thread.  [An old 
machinist I knew always called it a "very near caliper" because the 
measurement obtained was "very near the correct dimension."]

Anyhow, is there a chart like the tap-drill sizes vs. screw sizes 
that I've been missing all of this time?

73,

George T. Daughters, K6GT




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