I've bought a towel radiator which fixes to the wall.
Four brass 'pistons' at the back of the radiator slide into
four cylinders which are screwed to the wall using just one
screw in the middle of the cylinder (I am sure there are
better ways to decribe it but I cannot think of one now).

The problem is that the pistons are a tight fit into the
cylinders - perhaps only a thou clearance.
How do I screw the four cylinders to a tiled wall such that
the cylinders are within a thou of the positions of the
pistons in the radiator?

On Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:04:31 -0500, Davy wrote:

How do I screw the four cylinders to a tiled wall such that
the cylinders are within a thou of the positions of the
pistons in the radiator?

I fitted a pair of these buggers last week - very accurately, although
there was a slight bit of give and take with them the tilehole cutting
was a one-off affair.
Just measure up carefully, is all. What I did was mount the front
pieces to the rail, and mark the wall for the first one, hung that
temporarily and marked position two. Then did the two bottom ones the
same way. Don't, whatever you do, attempt to mark and drill all four
in the one go - that way lies tears.

On Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:26:52 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

On Wed, 19 Oct 2011 09:04:31 -0500, Davy wrote:

How do I screw the four cylinders to a tiled wall such that the
cylinders are within a thou of the positions of the pistons in the
radiator?

I fitted a pair of these buggers last week - very accurately, although
there was a slight bit of give and take with them the tilehole cutting
was a one-off affair.
Just measure up carefully, is all. What I did was mount the front pieces
to the rail, and mark the wall for the first one, hung that temporarily
and marked position two. Then did the two bottom ones the same way.
Don't, whatever you do, attempt to mark and drill all four in the one go
- that way lies tears.

Especially if you have the radiator the wrong way up when you mark ... I
managed to punch the bottom 2 holes in the wrong place when I fitted
ours, having just retiled the entire bathroom. Luckily SWMBO didn't
notice the small dots I managed to fill in.

On 19/10/2011 15:04, Davy wrote:
I've bought a towel radiator which fixes to the wall.
Four brass 'pistons' at the back of the radiator slide into
four cylinders which are screwed to the wall using just one
screw in the middle of the cylinder (I am sure there are
better ways to decribe it but I cannot think of one now).

The problem is that the pistons are a tight fit into the
cylinders - perhaps only a thou clearance.
How do I screw the four cylinders to a tiled wall such that
the cylinders are within a thou of the positions of the
pistons in the radiator?

There may only be a thou clearance between the piston and the cylinder
but there will probably be a lot more between the screw and the cylinder
enabling some adjustment of the cylinder position before tightening the
screw.

Of course, how you do that and tighten the screw when the screw is not
accessible because the piston is covering it is left as an exercise for
the reader.

On Oct 19, 3:04*pm, Davy wrote:
I've bought a towel radiator which fixes to the wall.
Four brass 'pistons' at the back of the radiator slide into
four cylinders which are screwed to the wall using just one
screw in the middle of the cylinder (I am sure there are
better ways to decribe it but I cannot think of one now).

The problem is that the pistons are a tight fit into the
cylinders - perhaps only a thou clearance.
How do I screw the four cylinders to a tiled wall such that
the cylinders are within a thou of the positions of the
pistons in the radiator?


Small diameter round head screws to give some play/lateral movement?

This might not be practical with a radiator, but when I fitted something
with similar fixings I put the wall-mounting bits (your cylinders) in place
on their lugs (your pistons) and used a water-based black marker pen to
completely cover the rear surfaces of the mounts with ink. Then I held up
the thing I was fixing in position against the wall and applied a bit
pressure. When I moved it away again I had four black circles on the wall
marking the place where the mounts had to be screwed.

Bert

On 19/10/2011 15:04, Davy wrote:
I've bought a towel radiator which fixes to the wall.
Four brass 'pistons' at the back of the radiator slide into
four cylinders which are screwed to the wall using just one
screw in the middle of the cylinder (I am sure there are
better ways to decribe it but I cannot think of one now).

The problem is that the pistons are a tight fit into the
cylinders - perhaps only a thou clearance.
How do I screw the four cylinders to a tiled wall such that
the cylinders are within a thou of the positions of the
pistons in the radiator?

On many of these the "piston" bit is clamped to the rad, and can be left
slack until the ends are pushed into the cylinders. The cylinders
themselves usually also have elongated holes to allow a little movement
on their screws.

--
Cheers,

John.

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I think now, with your help, that I can answer my own
question.
The 'cylinders' have a slotted hole in the base which allows
about 5mm of movement. Because the cylinders are round then
this slot can be aligned in any direction - so the cylinders
can be moved about 5mm in any direction - that should be
enough!
Thanks for your help, Davy