Collar Nuts

I got my backplate from RA and it didn't include the collar nuts. I need some fast though. I was thinking, would it work to pull off some keyboard keys, fill them with Bondo and put in a nut while it's setting? Then I'd do what BobaFettish did and put the screw up through the back plate. Would this work?

What I did was fill the keys with 2 part epoxy.When it's dried
drill holes in it.Make the holes smaller than the screws.So when you tighten it togather it will hold.I don't know what
kind of bondo eberyone else used.But the stuff I am using was
not hard enough to keep the screws from sliping out.It stripped.So for me epoxy did the trick.

OK, I just made one out of wood, cast it with RTV and then made dups with resin. I put a bolt in while the resin set up. Works like a charm. I need to paint them but the pic should give you a good idea.

What are the dimensions of the collar nuts?

Thanks,
Ed

I'm pretty sure that the real ones are made from computer keyboard keys if this gives you an idea as to their size.

I used the rubber furniture no-skid pads...I can't remember exactly what the hell they're called but they go on the bottom of chair legs.

I did 2 versions... just to see what one I liked best.. 1st was out of Sintra.. just glued some together to create the height of the little knobs.. and then simply sanded them down to form the simple shape... turned out pretty good... 2nd attempt to compare was just getting pieces of fine wood... and sanding them down to form the shape.. beveled.. blah, blah, blah.. and they to turned out pretty good. I found that the wood sort of gave the look of molten metal a bit with the small barely noticable grain to it.. when painted. Both ways were cheap and simple.

At work, we have DEC VAX and CLIX servers dating back to the early 1980's, but I still couldn't find any keys on the keyboards that I liked (not that I would have stolen any if I had've found them! ).

I ended up making all 4 of mine by hand using the trusty Sculpey III that I've used for a lot of my "weird" pieces. After hand-forming each piece, I hollowed-out the center, inserted a nut to match the bolt that I wanted to used, then baked the pieces in the oven. Works fine!

Do you have any rough dimensions on those collar nuts? I always thought they looked a little bigger than keyboard keys to me, both in the "square" size and the height.

Jer

Let me get out my calipers...

OK...

The BASE measures 15mm on each side

The TOP measures 10mm on each side

The HEIGHT is 11mm


Keep in mind that I have NO idea how close these are to the "real deal". I made these in a proportion that *I* liked, AND in a size that fit *my* shoulder armor.

Hope it helps!

Thanks,

It does help actually. Always good to have a place to start from!

Jer

Thanks for the rough estimate. It is most helpful.

Ed