Manipulating small screws / bolts e.g. 10BA

[File HandleParticipant @filehandle]

I wasn’t really sure where to put this, but beginners seemed most appropriate.
I have always found handling small screws / bolts and nuts fiddly.
I wondered how others cope with very small screws and nuts?
I read in EIM about making tools to make the handling of M1.6 cap screws and nuts easier. They were being used as temporary fixings prior to 1/16 ” rivets. Basically an Allen key offcut held in a pin vice, the screw heing held by a piece of plastic tube on a short guide to feed the Allen key  into its intended home. The nut being held by a BA capscrew in a pin vice acting as socket. It seemed a good if complex solution.
This got me thinking that a similar approach might work for hex head screws. i.e.grip the hex head in a pin chuck, much better than the fine nose pliers that I have used in the past. it would be easy to line up the screws in a row of generous clearance holes in some scrap material, hardwood or plastic for example, making it easy to grab them in a pin vice. i have tried gripping one as an experiment and it worked fine. Haven’t tried but it might also work for nuts, not as confident here and not tried. but if the grip is OK a row of pins hammed in to say hardwood, cropped to just above the nut height could be used as a temporary home whilst the nuts are inserted in the pin vice. For fiddly spaces the pinvices could be modified, for example shortened and a side handle added.
Since thinking about this I haven’t really had time in the workshop to try it out.
i did buy a cheap set, £3, of  pin vices. Hoping that the jaws might be soft enough to modify with a needle file if needed.
having not used metric screws below M2 I hadn’t realised that a standard metric set of nut spinners has no 3.2 included so is useless for M1.6. i guess that you are expected to have Imperial as well and use 1/8″.
Has anyone done anything similar or have a better system.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I tend to use metric small hex now and have some nice nutdrivers that hold the nuts or bolt/screw heads quite well. M1.6 is the smallest I use them for which in the size hex I use is 2.5mm AF

 

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

I tend to use box spanner for 8BA or smaller nuts also I have some spring loaded angled tweeters which I also find very useful

H

[File HandleParticipant @filehandle]

Cheers Harry. The tweezers seem a good idea. I have a pair of clamping forceps which are also good, but I bit big. Whenever I see second hand medical equipment I keep my eye open for smaller ones, so far without look.

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

I wonder if these would hold some potential:

They also seem to be sold for holding beads (the type you put on a string and wear).

As you say, medical instruments (laparascopy) might be a good source.

Edit: link did not appear. Search Amazon for “Nuqin Piercing Ball Grabber Tool”

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

For starting and running down small (and not so small actually) screws and nuts in awkward to access places a short piece of silicone tubing as sold for model aircraft fuel tubing works really well. Comes in different bore sizes so fits a fair range of screws. Obviously you need tighten with a spanner after

Works well for me

Tug

[roy entwistleParticipant @royentwistle24699]

I’ve always used tweezers.   Curved tweezers ( No 7 ) usually.

Roy

[roy entwistle]

On roy entwistle Said:

I’ve always used tweezers.   Curved tweezers ( No 7 ) usually.

Roy

Roy, just to save you a few keystrokes. On this new forum software you no longer need to leave a space before and after parenthesis (brackets in plain English).

Ian P

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Doesn’t help much for doing reasonable numbers, but when reassembling clocks with small screws I often use a small blob of Rodico to stick the screw to the driver, or a small “sausage” of it to hold and position the screw or bolt.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Sometimes the easiest/cheapest/most-useful tool for holding a screw is a simple strip of paper … poke a hole in it and push the screw into that.

When you have engaged the screw properly, just pull the paper away.

[ with thanks to my Dad, more than 60 years ago ]

MichaelG.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

I Have a few Nutdrivers where I have drilled beyond the hex and glued  a Neo magnet in.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Many times, a dab of grease or vaseline (possibly Rocol RTD?) on the screwhead will stick it to the screwdriver for long enough to get it started.

Howard

[NealebParticipant @nealeb]

I remember my Saturday job in a local TV workshop where the trick I learnt was to hold a screw to the end of a screwdriver with a smear of wax scraped off the nearest capacitor. That was in the days of macro-electronics, of course, when a television was a major room-heating device. Pity you can’t scale down to use SMD capacitors to do the same thing with the tiny screws under discussion. And, of course, the magnet idea is great but does need a copper magnet for brass screws.

Serious posts will recommence in the New Year…

 

[File HandleParticipant @filehandle]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.
the major issue that I sometimes have is fitting a small brass 12 BA nut in a confined space. I have usually resorted to the tip of long nose pliers to grip it or balancing one on the tip of a finger until it starts to thread. The later usually proving better as you can feel the nut. I did see somewhere the idea of drilling long nose pliers with a series of different size holes to grip wire / thin rods. Perhaps this might work for a small nut as I often find that they tend to tilt. This might give a more positive location. I have also seen the suggestion of supergluing a nut to your finger to get the initial location. Seem a bit extreeme for  skin health.

[NealebParticipant @nealeb]

How about a custom 3D-printed box spanner? I’m thinking of a short stub with a recess in the end sized to grip the nut, but shallow enough that you don’t get the “nut tilting” problem of a typical nut spinner or small socket with its deeper recess. Just to get the nut started on the stud or bolt, then go back to a traditional tool for tightening. In fact, I’m going to try this myself – I’m glad it has just occurred to me! Although it’s probably a subconscious memory of something I’ve seen somewhere…

[File Handle]

On File Handle Said:

Thanks for all of the suggestions.
the major issue that I sometimes have is fitting a small brass 12 BA nut in a confined space. …

For which, low-tack adhesive tape has worked for me

MichaelG.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

I’ m with Roy.  No. 7 curved tweezers every time for me for holding small screws just under the head.  For nuts I use a bit of wax on the end of a piece of silver steel of appropriate diameter.

Russell

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