Screw slotting tip

[mklotz]

The only thing worse than slotted screws is having to slot one when you need to make a special one. If you need to slot a bunch it's probably worth the time to make a jig and do the work on the mill but, if it's a one off, this tip should take some of the frustration out of the job.

The slot can be made with a model-maker's mini hacksaw or, for really small screws a jeweler's saw and blade. The difficulty is keeping the sawn slot centered on the screw head.. To set up the picture of the tip I used my finger plate, described here...

More versatile finger plate

because it had evenly spaced lines of already tapped holes. (Please ignore the other job, drilling a key, that i left in place.)

Place the screw to be slotted in the middle between two evenly spaced cylinders. Here I used threaded rods for the cylinders.)



and orient the screw so that by keying the saw blade against the cylinders a slot will be cut across the middle of the screw. Here a piece of bamboo stands in for the saw blade...



One advantage of using the finger plate was the fact that both cylinders and the screw could be prevented from rotating by the use of lock nuts on the bottom of the finger plate.