Chevrolet horn button screws

[David Dunlop]

On the basis of the style of screw alone, the ones Marty has posted a photo of scream post war American replacements, if they came out of his C8A.

To my knowledge, the wartime rule of screws used in Canadian manufacturing was slot head. Post war, the USA went big time towards their Phillips head whereas Canada preferred their own square Robertson design.

Also the screw thread on Marty’s is far too fine when compared to the other photos of originals with a coarser thread. It may be possible to restore the threads chewed out by the replacement screws.

If the anchor material is Bakelite, clean it of dust and wipe the old hole with a thin coat of epoxy and let it cure a week. Then slowly screw in correct screws until they just snug up. If metal base material you can heat it and wipe with solder in the same way with same result.

David

[Lynn Eades]

Slotted head = hand assembly.
Phillips or square = powered assembly.
The flat faced c/s screw top looks so wrong in that situation. It has to be the oval head c/s.
(all aesthetics and my opinion)

[rob love]

Regarding Robertson (square drive) screws in Canadian service or Canadian Automotive, I can think of very few examples of either. I have seen screws on some of the Bren chests that were a combination of Robertson and slot drive. Most of my run-ins with Robertson are with various crates or locally produced wooden items.

[Lynn Eades]

Rob, I wasnt saying that square drives were used in WWII. To me they are a modern thing.

[rob love]

Lynn
I was more referring to David's post.



These days, any visit to Canadian tire or Home depot for machine screws or self tapping screws (aside from drywall screws) inevitably leads to only Robertson being available if using SAE threads. I have had to use metric in the past in order to get slot drive.

[Mike Cecil]

Rob, have you tried McMaster-Carr? UNC, UNF or metric

https://www.mcmaster.com/machine-scr...d-head-screws/

Mike

[rob love]

Believe it or not, McMaster Carr will not export to Canada (this may have changed but I have not heard otherwise).
When I find boxes or jars of old steel, non plated, slot drive screws at the surplus places, I buy them. My inventory is decent enough that I rarely have to order them these days. And when I do need old time fasteners, Blacksmiths bolt and rivet supply in the US is my go-to place. They do not sell torx, robertson, phillips, their hardware is non-plated and usually chemically blackened. https://www.blacksmithbolt.com/

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by rob love

Regarding Robertson (square drive) screws in Canadian service or Canadian Automotive, I can think of very few examples of either. I have seen screws on some of the Bren chests that were a combination of Robertson and slot drive. Most of my run-ins with Robertson are with various crates or locally produced wooden items.

And this is the sort of rivet counting conversation that makes our hobby interesting? Now the question is not just how many screws but pitch, thread, length and head.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

FWIW, in Kandahar I was in a 4-eyes intelligence office lodged in a plywood hut. The commander was a US Navy three-ringer intelligence officer who had many interesting stories. I was asking about the building and we got talking about which of the US services gets things done in various circumstances. I commented that the electrical panel had been installed by Canadians. Huh? How on earth could I know that? See, Robertson heads on all the hardware.

(In his eyes every Canadian soldier had been something else before he met them, and scratch one and you'd find a former paratrooper in a Navy uniform doing imagery analysis, or university educated former clerks doing maps, or Cpls who were serious tech geeks.)