Shortening screws

[thehomeengineer]

Hi Nelson
Good to hear from you. Washer work really well and can be made to an exact size. But when you have a lot of screws to shorten the shims are far quicker as several screws can be done at once. Otherwise you would need to make lots of washers all the same length. The Shims I made were produced on a CNC I have access to so while the machine was set up I ran quite a few off but to be honest you don’t need that many. As you could make different thickness Jig plates and drill and tap them with the size bolts you normally have to shorten. Then use the shims to get to the finished size. (No matter what size jig plate you drill and tap you will always want to shorten a screw that you haven’t yet made a plate for).
I had to shorten 24 8BA screws today and it was done in two batches of 12. (See photos below). Like most things in engineering there is always more than one way to get the job done but in the home workshop we sometimes have to get a bit creative. Does not always work but it is very nice and satisfying when it does.

Filing jig loaded and ready to file down to size. 3/16” under the head.

Again great to hear from you
The Home Engineer