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Screwwwwss

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throbscottle

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I have the rather pleasant task of designing my psu's front panel. The 4 led displays are going to be behind some kind of plastic bezel (no surround) (possibly cut from a turntable lid) with nicely finished edges and nice looking screws (and a bit of adhesive) to hold it on. So any thoughts on what sort of screws would look nice?
I'm looking at M3 or M4 screws, choice of heads is currently:
black countersunk socket
black button head socket
black cap head socket
stainless pan head slotted
stainless button head socket
stainless cap head socket
stainless countersunk socket

All the proper dome heads seem to be wood-screws or imperial sizes. Same goes for cheese heads too.

The bezel will be either some shade of gray or smoke 155 x 35mm, going across, and the panel will be brushed or satin aluminium 145 x 170mm.

Any thoughts on what style would look best?
 
There are plastic caps available for set screws..
upload_2016-3-28_19-27-0.jpeg


Or you can get captive plastic covers ( used on number plates ) I would be tempted by a domed caphead screw
upload_2016-3-28_19-28-23.jpeg


These don't look too bad...

These are polished
images
 
Black oxide
Button head is 1st choice, Pan head is second
Torx is first choice, Hex is second, Phillips is third.

I have a digital clock that I made at an explorer's post at HP in 1972. It uses two screws to fasten the Bezel. I think they were Phillips pan head. I'd have to look.

You'll never get the countersunk to the right height unless you use a press.
 
I'd have gone for torx but the only ones I can find are with a pin in the middle and they just remind me of public facilities...
Where'd you find those polished ones Ian?
Can't say I'd go for the plastic caps...
Really don't want to use philips or pozi
I'm pretty good at getting even countersinks! (height settable drill stand helps a lot :) )
 
You might consider getting a piece of acrylic laser cut. Everything is the perfect size that way with polished edges. Lasers are common at hacker spaces and trophy shops.

I'd avoid countersunk holes with a plastic panel - a bit too much torque and you'll have a crack.
 
Ah, had only looked at torx on cpc - forgot to check fleabay. Of course the normal ones are there! I think they give a more industrial look though, and I'm going for more of a hi-fi look...
I've got plenty of plastic jon so I don't mind risking it. I've encountered that exact cracking problem before though - but I had put it down to old and weakened plastic drilled too close to the edge, never occurred to me it might have been the type of fixing.

There's a maker-space not too far. Might be worth joining. Trophy shop up the road too - I might ring them.

I quite like the idea of using thicker plastic, counter-boring it and using cap screws. Then I saw the price of counter-bore bits :wideyed:

I'm leaning towards shiny slotted screws at the moment... Tomorrow I may feel differently :nailbiting:
 
I really like laser-cut panels. It's so nice when holes are the right size, squares and rectangles are straight and true and everything just fits like it's supposed to! My drafting skills are far better than my machining skills!
 
I have to cut everything by hand. I usually get pretty good results, considering...
 
I'd be tempted to secure the bezel and trim from inside the chassis panel... no through holes and then it wouldn't matter what the screws were.

Just a thought.
 
I did think about just glueing it on, but I like the screw-look! Has to be done right though - normal m3 screws you find inside stuff look rubbish.
No trim incidentally. I worked out how to make a nice looking trim, then decided not to use it... So fasteners attached behind is kind of tricky. I suppose I could use self-tapping screws in that way.
 
Here's a pic of a Torx Pan (not a security screw) head (#4 which is close to 4 mm) that I just did.
 

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  • P1030043 (installed resized).jpg
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I'd recommend stainless steel. It's not as strong but you don't need strength here. Nickel plating would be fine also. Brass if you really like the gold look. But beware of unfinished steels that may look fine today but can rust from finger oils, water vapor and who knows what else after a few years. My personal favorite is a button head cap screw that uses a hex driver. Torx of any kind annoy me. I also like the plain hex head if you can find them.
 
I like the colour of plain steel but yep, rust sucks. Strength is not an issue, it's only holding a piece of plastic to a piece of aluminium.
I'll have to do a better mock up of the panel (at the moment it is cardboard pieces stuck with blue-tack in my desging-things-book) to get a better idea. Been thinking about this all day and still not got anywhere. Decided to get a piece of tinted perspex rather than using something I recovered.
I like those Avsafe screws! Hard to get here though I think. It does occur to me I could file the corners off hex screws to get the same effect. Hmmmm...
 
I have the rather pleasant task of designing my psu's front panel. The 4 led displays are going to be behind some kind of plastic bezel (no surround) (possibly cut from a turntable lid) with nicely finished edges and nice looking screws (and a bit of adhesive) to hold it on. So any thoughts on what sort of screws would look nice?
I'm looking at M3 or M4 screws, choice of heads is currently:
black countersunk socket
black button head socket
black cap head socket
stainless pan head slotted
stainless button head socket
stainless cap head socket
stainless countersunk socket

All the proper dome heads seem to be wood-screws or imperial sizes. Same goes for cheese heads too.

The bezel will be either some shade of gray or smoke 155 x 35mm, going across, and the panel will be brushed or satin aluminium 145 x 170mm.

Any thoughts on what style would look best?
If you are interested in bezels, Digikey still stocks them @
https://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?keywords=led bezels.
I have also used 1/8" thick plexaglass a number of times, and have made the groves for flat head screws using a larger drill bit to do the counter sink part after I drilled the thru hole for mounting. I have a drill press that I set the speed for most plastics and it does a good job. I use minimum pressure and have no problem with counter sink holes
 
P1030046 (Clock Front view ( 640 x 480).jpg P1030048 (Clock rear View).jpg P1030055 (Clock inside view).jpg

Hey Throbs:

This was a clock I made as team of 3 at Hewlett-Packard. Our team given the components already placed had to tape the
PCB at 4x. Our group had the second clock assembled and the first one working. Besides a batch of defective components, there was only one problem. A small trace on the display fell off somewhere.

In any event the bezel uses two exposed Pozidrive screws on the front. The sides have two screws each to fasten the top.

The clock used the National MM5311

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...Uptf9QEC1FeL7WTEMjWB_w&bvm=bv.117868183,d.eWE chip.
 
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