What's new
What's new

Nameplate attachment

split tenth

Hot Rolled
Joined
Sep 19, 2007
Location
mesa arizona
I'm looking for some 1/8 diameter round head rivets with a fast helical spline used to fasten nameplates on machinery. I can't find them, don't know correct name.Driving rivets ??????.
 
I like to use 4-40 SS button head hex drive screws. The existing holes were a bit oversize and tapped easily. This way, in 50 years, when someone wants to refurbish my lathe, the plates will be easy to remove. :)
 
I like to use 4-40 SS button head hex drive screws. The existing holes were a bit oversize and tapped easily. This way, in 50 years, when someone wants to refurbish my lathe, the plates will be easy to remove. :)

Yes, I usually use screws when I replace a plate after repainting a modern machine. But 100 year old Hardinge machines have cast brass plates fastened to the cast iron with brass escutcheon pins (nails) that are easy to remove, so I reuse them.

Larry
 
Best way to remove existing drive screws?
Drill head off?

Get around behind them and drive them out with a skinny punch.
Most of the holes they are mounted in are thru holes so you can do this.
It isn't always easy to get to the back side.

If that fails, I have heard of guys grinding a slot with a Dremel cutoff disk and using a screwdriver. Myself, I have a small pair of pliers that look vaguely like this:

wire-cutter-picture-id497244715


and I use it to grab both sides of the drive screw head and twist while trying to get under the head. It often works, sometimes makes a visible mark though.

metalmagpie
 
I used to use them all the time to fasten name plates at twin disc to their gearboxes.

The part no is MA422 the A was dropped M422 but may be still there on USA supply
They are plated a gold colour.
see them here Offices & Locations - About Us | Twin Disc see the parts department.
to get them out you just get a wedge under them to lift them up then use pincers to get them out they come out reasonably easily.
 
I use 4-40 or 2-56 button head allen screws.

When the original steel rivet is driven in so hard that it dents the aluminium nameplate it makes taking them out so much more fun.
 
Best way to remove existing drive screws?
Drill head off?

Have you ever tried to drill them ? The ones we used were as hard as Chinese Algebra. I think they were called "PK" ( Parker-Kalon ? ) rivets. I used a little chisel to ease them out but it was a difficult job if you didn't want to damage the plates.

Regards Tyrone.
 
'' ( Parker-Kalon ? )''

That's right Tyrone and still going Trade catalogs from Parker-Kalon Corp. | National Museum of American History

In the UK I believe PK stuff was made under licence by Nettlefolds which was the N part of GKN (Guest Keen & Nettlefolds) GKN - Graces Guide

Thanks for that Sami. They were really hard, getting them out with a little chisel would usually put a dint in the edge of the chisel if they were in tight. I think we used either a No32 drill or a No33 drill for drilling the holes. Funny what you remember isn't it ?

Regards Tyrone.
 
I can't look at those drive screws without remembering something from my distant past. I was working for a company called Beckman in LA at the time which was then the premier provider of ultra centrifuges. The company sold the US navy ten TI rotors at a little under $10K a pop. Per their protocol ,everything has to have a proper label on it. They drilled the rotors and drove in those screws to affix the ID tags. This of course turned the rotors to scrap. Not only would it generate a huge imbalance but any flaw like that would make them unsafe to use.
 
Have you ever tried to drill them ? The ones we used were as hard as Chinese Algebra. I think they were called "PK" ( Parker-Kalon ? ) rivets. I used a little chisel to ease them out but it was a difficult job if you didn't want to damage the plates.

Regards Tyrone.

:-)
I haven’t tried drilling them or removing them yet, as I definitely don’t want to damage the plates.
I’m going to try using a drive/punch on the back as someone has suggested, as I have access to the back side.

If I had to, I suppose I could remove the sheetmetal door and mill the heads off one at a time, taking a few thousandths off at a time. That would be a last resort :-)
 
A rivet shaver could remove just the head and not touching the tag. Then drill it out. If you drill too deep you can cause a leak.
Bill D.
 
:-)
I haven’t tried drilling them or removing them yet, as I definitely don’t want to damage the plates.
I’m going to try using a drive/punch on the back as someone has suggested, as I have access to the back side.

If I had to, I suppose I could remove the sheetmetal door and mill the heads off one at a time, taking a few thousandths off at a time. That would be a last resort :-)

If you can get at the back you should be ok. We weren't too bothered about the old labels to be honest because they were going to be replaced by new ones in a slightly different position.

Regards Tyrone.
 
:-)
I haven’t tried drilling them or removing them yet, as I definitely don’t want to damage the plates.
I’m going to try using a drive/punch on the back as someone has suggested, as I have access to the back side.

If I had to, I suppose I could remove the sheetmetal door and mill the heads off one at a time, taking a few thousandths off at a time. That would be a last resort :-)

I shall repeat what has already been said - IME PK drive screws (let's call them ''genuine PK's '' ) are HARD, as Tyrone says hard enough to nick a cold chisel, …...and FWIW I've never had any success trying to drill them.
 
A rivet shaver could remove just the head and not touching the tag. Then drill it out. If you drill too deep you can cause a leak.
Bill D.

Another one! they're hard! as in too hard to drill so I can't see a rivet shaver doing anything - apart from going to the scrap bin.
 
I had several sets of the " Starrett " pin punches over the years for punching out this sort of thing. Several sets because inevitably the small ones get broken. If you haven't got a pin punch then cutting the short end off an " Allen " key and using the long piece isn't a bad substitute in a crisis.

Regards Tyrone.
 








 
Back
Top