Electrical boxes -- screw size?
 

On 01/01/10 02:32 pm, RBM wrote:

I have mislaid the screws that originally held one of those old ceramic
light sockets in place on a hard plastic ("Bakelite"? Or is that a British
name?) box.

What size and thread are those screws?

Not sure what your asking for, but there are ceramic lampholders that screw
to 3 and 4 inch round boxes, which use 8/32 machine screws

8-32 was my guess, but it just pushed through the first hole. Worked
fine in the second hole, so I used a sheet-metal screw in the first
hole, which I assume had a stripped thread.

Perce

Electrical boxes -- screw size?
 

replying to Percival P. Cassidy, Tyler wrote:
Im so confused by this and have never gotten to the bottom of it. I have
run into needing a longer screw than included with ceiling boxes/junction
boxes. 6-32 is too small (threads in but is wiggly) and 8-32 is too large. I
have found in my miscellaneous screws some sort of perfect in between size
that Im wondering if is a metric. Anytime I look into it, people just say
6-32 for wall stuff and 8-32 for ceiling stuff and thats that. But this
simply isnt the case in my experience. There is a metric that must be
similar to what a 7-32 screw would be.

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...ze-416095-.htm

Electrical boxes -- screw size?
 

On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 21:44:01 GMT, Tyler
m wrote:

replying to Percival P. Cassidy, Tyler wrote:
Im so confused by this and have never gotten to the bottom of it. I have
run into needing a longer screw than included with ceiling boxes/junction
boxes. 6-32 is too small (threads in but is wiggly) and 8-32 is too large. I
have found in my miscellaneous screws some sort of perfect in between size
that Im wondering if is a metric. Anytime I look into it, people just say
6-32 for wall stuff and 8-32 for ceiling stuff and thats that. But this
simply isnt the case in my experience. There is a metric that must be
similar to what a 7-32 screw would be.

Standard device boxes use 6-32, ceiling boxes (octagons) intended for
luminaires use 8-32 and fan boxes use 10-32. There are no metric
screws in current US boxes. Some day maybe and if you are in Canada,
who knows?

Electrical boxes -- screw size?
 

On Saturday, June 2, 2018 at 6:22:55 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 21:44:01 GMT, Tyler
m wrote:

replying to Percival P. Cassidy, Tyler wrote:
Im so confused by this and have never gotten to the bottom of it. I have
run into needing a longer screw than included with ceiling boxes/junction
boxes. 6-32 is too small (threads in but is wiggly) and 8-32 is too large. I
have found in my miscellaneous screws some sort of perfect in between size
that Im wondering if is a metric. Anytime I look into it, people just say
6-32 for wall stuff and 8-32 for ceiling stuff and thats that. But this
simply isnt the case in my experience. There is a metric that must be
similar to what a 7-32 screw would be.

Standard device boxes use 6-32, ceiling boxes (octagons) intended for
luminaires use 8-32 and fan boxes use 10-32. There are no metric
screws in current US boxes. Some day maybe and if you are in Canada,
who knows?

When I was doing electrical work, I often came across stripped out threads on ceiling boxes so I had self-drilling and thread cutting screws to use. If there was enough metal, I was able to drill a larger hole and install a rivnut which had a lot more threads for a screw which held a heavy fixture much more securely. ^_^

http://www.rivet-nut.com/index.html

http://rivetnutusa.com/

[8~{} Uncle Nutty Monster

Electrical boxes -- screw size?
 

On 06/02/2018 05:23 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 21:44:01 GMT, Tyler
m wrote:

replying to Percival P. Cassidy, Tyler wrote:
Im so confused by this and have never gotten to the bottom of it. I have
run into needing a longer screw than included with ceiling boxes/junction
boxes. 6-32 is too small (threads in but is wiggly) and 8-32 is too large. I
have found in my miscellaneous screws some sort of perfect in between size
that Im wondering if is a metric. Anytime I look into it, people just say
6-32 for wall stuff and 8-32 for ceiling stuff and thats that. But this
simply isnt the case in my experience. There is a metric that must be
similar to what a 7-32 screw would be.

Standard device boxes use 6-32, ceiling boxes (octagons) intended for
luminaires use 8-32 and fan boxes use 10-32. There are no metric
screws in current US boxes. Some day maybe and if you are in Canada,
who knows?


My guess is RaCo or whoever makes boxes these days is using taps that
should have been replaced sometime last year.

Electrical boxes -- screw size?
 

On Sat, 2 Jun 2018 19:36:02 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

On Saturday, June 2, 2018 at 6:22:55 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 21:44:01 GMT, Tyler
m wrote:

replying to Percival P. Cassidy, Tyler wrote:
Im so confused by this and have never gotten to the bottom of it. I have
run into needing a longer screw than included with ceiling boxes/junction
boxes. 6-32 is too small (threads in but is wiggly) and 8-32 is too large. I
have found in my miscellaneous screws some sort of perfect in between size
that Im wondering if is a metric. Anytime I look into it, people just say
6-32 for wall stuff and 8-32 for ceiling stuff and thats that. But this
simply isnt the case in my experience. There is a metric that must be
similar to what a 7-32 screw would be.

Standard device boxes use 6-32, ceiling boxes (octagons) intended for
luminaires use 8-32 and fan boxes use 10-32. There are no metric
screws in current US boxes. Some day maybe and if you are in Canada,
who knows?

When I was doing electrical work, I often came across stripped out threads on ceiling boxes so I had self-drilling and thread cutting screws to use. If there was enough metal, I was able to drill a larger hole and install a rivnut which had a lot more threads for a screw which held a heavy fixture much more securely. ^_^

http://www.rivet-nut.com/index.html

http://rivetnutusa.com/

[8~{} Uncle Nutty Monster

There are also speed nuts and even T nuts that will clip over the ears
of a box but usually you can just thread it to the next bigger size.
That is why Klein sells that screwdriver style tap that starts 6-32
and ends up 10-32. Keep screwing it in until it bites ;-)

Electrical boxes -- screw size?
 

On Sunday, June 3, 2018 at 12:23:34 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 2 Jun 2018 19:36:02 -0700 (PDT), Uncle Monster
wrote:

On Saturday, June 2, 2018 at 6:22:55 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sat, 02 Jun 2018 21:44:01 GMT, Tyler
m wrote:

replying to Percival P. Cassidy, Tyler wrote:
Im so confused by this and have never gotten to the bottom of it. I have
run into needing a longer screw than included with ceiling boxes/junction
boxes. 6-32 is too small (threads in but is wiggly) and 8-32 is too large. I
have found in my miscellaneous screws some sort of perfect in between size
that Im wondering if is a metric. Anytime I look into it, people just say
6-32 for wall stuff and 8-32 for ceiling stuff and thats that. But this
simply isnt the case in my experience. There is a metric that must be
similar to what a 7-32 screw would be.

Standard device boxes use 6-32, ceiling boxes (octagons) intended for
luminaires use 8-32 and fan boxes use 10-32. There are no metric
screws in current US boxes. Some day maybe and if you are in Canada,
who knows?

When I was doing electrical work, I often came across stripped out threads on ceiling boxes so I had self-drilling and thread cutting screws to use.. If there was enough metal, I was able to drill a larger hole and install a rivnut which had a lot more threads for a screw which held a heavy fixture much more securely. ^_^

http://www.rivet-nut.com/index.html

http://rivetnutusa.com/

[8~{} Uncle Nutty Monster

There are also speed nuts and even T nuts that will clip over the ears
of a box but usually you can just thread it to the next bigger size.
That is why Klein sells that screwdriver style tap that starts 6-32
and ends up 10-32. Keep screwing it in until it bites ;-)

That Klein multi-tap screwdriver-like tool is in my toolbelt and I made a lot of use of it. Dang! I miss working! I've had so many tools stolen over the years that it really makes me angry and sad at the same time. o_O

[8~{} Uncle Tool Monster