On Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 4:50:09 PM UTC-8, wrote:

[about ring nuts that retain a switch in a panel]
Get this...there are 7 here nutless. Collected them this afternoon. 3 are hella's for expletive deleted.


Well, you can order seven new switches, they'll come with the hardware. And
you can start collecting these parts from all the discarded appliances you see.

Or you can ask an elderly coworker if he/she has a jar of these at home.

Some (not all) might be available commercially; mcmaster.com calls them 'panel nuts'
but I see only inch sizes and threads.