• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.
  • Several Regions have held meetups already, but others are being planned or are evaluating the interest. The Ontario GTA West area meetup is planned for Saturday April 26th at Greasemonkeys shop in Aylmer Ontario. If you are interested and haven’t signed up yet, click here! Arbutus has also explored interest in a Fraser Valley meetup but it seems members either missed his thread or had other plans. Let him know if you are interested in a meetup later in the year by posting here! Slowpoke is trying to pull together an Ottawa area meetup later this summer. No date has been selected yet, so let him know if you are interested here! We are not aware of any other meetups being planned this year. If you are interested in doing something in your area, let everyone know and make it happen! Meetups are a great way to make new machining friends and get hands on help in your area. Don’t be shy, sign up and come, or plan your own meetup!

CA-ON Small Fasteners

Ontario
Type
Supplies

possum1104

New Member
Hi. I am new to this group and I am currently retired and build small steam engine models, traction and stationary. I am looking for a supplier of #2-56 screws with a hex head. The only place I have found is in the US called Micro Fasteners. Does anyone know of a place in Ontario, Canada where I could get similar items? Thanks in advance
Robert
 
Hi. I am new to this group and I am currently retired and build small steam engine models, traction and stationary. I am looking for a supplier of #2-56 screws with a hex head. The only place I have found is in the US called Micro Fasteners. Does anyone know of a place in Ontario, Canada where I could get similar items? Thanks in advance
Robert

Hi Robert:

Another US option is Godshalls. For example:


I'm not aware of any Canadian suppliers. More than a few model builders will make their own fasteners. Tedious but then you can size the head so it looks 'right' at model scale. To do that, I bought some small taps and dies from Victor:


I think KBC may actually be competitive for some sizes of taps and dies.

Craig
(Would love to see what you are building. A few of us in the Hamilton Model Engineers Club have been building a small steam engine designed...30 years ago...by club member David Croft.)
 
I am looking for a supplier of #2-56 screws with a hex head.

Hi Robert! Welcome from Ontario Farm Country South of Chatham.

Fastenal has them. But you may need a commercial account. I have an account there and could get them for you if that works for you. Where abouts are you?

Black Oxide 5/16 long can be had for 18 cents each. But some types have a minimum order of 100. And some types can cost almost a buck each. What length, type, and quantity are you looking for?

If you go to Fastenal.ca you can see what they have but you can't see pricing without an account. When I order, I usually get delivery a day or two later.

I also might already have some but it's raining here and I don't like to get my fur wet so I don't want to look till tomorrow.

Edit - stopped raining just before farm lights out. Sorry, no 2-56 on hand here. I should get a small screw assortment set from Fastenal though. Smallest I have in quantities is #6.

Amazon has a set of 2-56 screws of lengths from 1/8 to 1" https://a.co/d/59HMqNd
 
If you have a connection in the states McMaster Carr has them in stainless steel.

You don't need a US connection. I get McMaster Carr orders delivered the next day to my door in Canada. However, you do need a business account - which is relatively easy to get.

Fastenal has Stainless too.
 
Quinn (blondiehacks on YouTube) lives in Canada and is using a ton of small brass hex heads (you have to but them long and cut to length).

If you scroll to the bottom of her homepage there is an email link so you can ask her what her source is:

 
Can you make what you need? I've been working on a Stuart 10V and made 4-40 nuts, bolts and studs with 3/16 hex stock and .109 rod. Not quite as small as 2-56 but doable. I'm making all the hardware to standard sizes because I don't have any BA tools and don't see a future need for them..

What machines are you running?

And welcome to the forum from the west coast.
 
Hi Robert:

Another US option is Godshalls. For example:


I'm not aware of any Canadian suppliers. More than a few model builders will make their own fasteners. Tedious but then you can size the head so it looks 'right' at model scale. To do that, I bought some small taps and dies from Victor:


I think KBC may actually be competitive for some sizes of taps and dies.

Craig
(Would love to see what you are building. A few of us in the Hamilton Model Engineers Club have been building a small steam engine designed...30 years ago...by club member David Croft.)
Here are some of the thing I have made
 

Attachments

  • 20250306_204318.jpg
    20250306_204318.jpg
    2.3 MB · Views: 19
  • 20240905_134125.jpg
    20240905_134125.jpg
    2.3 MB · Views: 16
  • 20240905_134110.jpg
    20240905_134110.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 10
  • 20240905_134058.jpg
    20240905_134058.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 11
  • 20240905_134045.jpg
    20240905_134045.jpg
    1.8 MB · Views: 10
  • 20240822_122707.jpg
    20240822_122707.jpg
    1.7 MB · Views: 6
  • 20240822_122629.jpg
    20240822_122629.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 6
  • 20230803_172917.jpg
    20230803_172917.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 8
  • 20200128_154623.jpg
    20200128_154623.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 6
  • 20191211_134943.jpg
    20191211_134943.jpg
    1.3 MB · Views: 16
Nice models. I suspect you are probably looking for scale-ish miniature hex head bolts (left) not hex socket head cap screws (right). Unlikely to find hex head in a typical machinery supplier, more than likely a specialty miniature hardware supplier like the aforementioned link. Here is another. Last time I checked there are more metric suppliers then imperial if that helps the decision

By the time you factor the cost & dinger fees they might get spendy. Not sure how many you are looking at but they are not particularly difficult to make, just boring & repetitive. Here are M3 some rocker adjusters I made from O1, similar workflow. 303 stainless or something like 12L14 would turn easier yet, both come in hex stock. Good luck


1747965513755.png
1747965608817.png



 

Attachments

  • IMG_3705_edited-1.jpg
    IMG_3705_edited-1.jpg
    33.3 KB · Views: 3
  • IMG_3709_edited-1.jpg
    IMG_3709_edited-1.jpg
    39 KB · Views: 3
  • IMG_3720_edited-1.jpg
    IMG_3720_edited-1.jpg
    24.4 KB · Views: 3
Last edited:
Nice models. I suspect you are probably looking for scale-ish miniature hex head bolts (left) not hex socket head cap screws (right).

I found myself wondering the same thing Peter. I even went back and read the first posts over again to see if I could "Sus" it out.

@possum1104 - It's nice to be able to buy such things ready made, but I'd probably just make them. It would add to the whole "made this from scratch" pride factor and not really very hard to do. They don't even need to be hardened. Heck, you could even buy threaded rod and some nuts and silver solder or epoxy the nuts on and then turn (or file) the heads flat.
 
Hi Robert! Welcome from Ontario Farm Country South of Chatham.

Fastenal has them. But you may need a commercial account. I have an account there and could get them for you if that works for you. Where abouts are you?

Black Oxide 5/16 long can be had for 18 cents each. But some types have a minimum order of 100. And some types can cost almost a buck each. What length, type, and quantity are you looking for?

If you go to Fastenal.ca you can see what they have but you can't see pricing without an account. When I order, I usually get delivery a day or two later.

I also might already have some but it's raining here and I don't like to get my fur wet so I don't want to look till tomorrow.

Edit - stopped raining just before farm lights out. Sorry, no 2-56 on hand here. I should get a small screw assortment set from Fastenal though. Smallest I have in quantities is #6.

Amazon has a set of 2-56 screws of lengths from 1/8 to 1" https://a.co/d/59HMqNd
Looking for actual hex on outside of head rather than socket head hex. Thanks
 
Back
Top