On Fri, 05 Jun 2015 17:04:29 -0500, Tim Wescott
wrote:

I'm looking for product names to look for.

I'm working on an instrument for a customer, and he's having me do the
whole-system design. This means I'm out of my comfort zone and playing
with mechanical issues.

It needs a big outer case (well, four feet long, by nine inches by two).
I'm thinking of doing the outer case from fiberglass for a number of
reasons, not least of which because I'm familiar with its
characteristics, and the instrument is going to be used on or near bodies
of water including salt water.

A comment. If you make "fiberglass" enclosures for outdoor use try to
have them made with "jell coat" which is the outer colored layer of a
fiberglass lay up. You can paint them with two part paint but the jell
coat provides better UV protection.

I'll need to attach things to this outer case. My current thinking is to
used buried studs and/or nuts, and use thumb-nuts and thumb-screws to
actually attach the bits. I'm assuming I want to use brass or stainless
hardware for corrosion resistance, and I probably want to take some pains
to match alloys.

McMaster is failing me for appropriate hardware. I'm finding thumbscrews
and thumb-nuts, but I'm not coming up with good candidates for nuts that
I can bury in the fiberglass. I'm assuming that the case will be a two-
part assembly that's glued together; nuts that can be buried in one side
and then captured in the gluing-up process seem to be the best notion to
me, but if someone with actual experience has alternate suggestions, I'll
listen (I may not _take_ your suggestion, but I'll certainly _listen_ and
_think_ about it).


Buried studs would likely be a stronger solution. Depending your
design you could make then with a length of stainless all-thread. Cut
to length, a right angle bend then bond them into the container. A
6-32 nut would a far less secure fixture in the fiberglass.

So -- suggestions? I'm probably wanting some 4-40 or 6-32-ish sized
ones, and some 10-24 (or 1/4-20). The bigger ones may work better as
studs, with thumb nuts. I'm pretty sure that I want nuts for the little
ones, unless that presents severe difficulties.

Depending on the use, you might be able to simply drill and tap the
fiberglass and screw a coarse thread screw directly into the
fiberglass. Or even a sheet metal screw. If, for example, it was a
screw to hold a component in and would never be removed and replaced.

You might have a look at Click Bond as they seem to specialize in what
you want.
http://www.clickbond.com/files/Docum...alog_CBcat.pdf
--
cheers,

John B.