Back box screw

[Ragnar_AT]

I must have missed the detailed price chart the last time I looked, seems like the price for one is 89p. For two it’s only 53p.

https://www.accu.co.uk/brass-threaded-inserts/849011-HTBBI-M3-5-BR

 

[JohnW2]

Hm I will have to try it sometime John, ... by saying I had never considered it I meant that I had never given that one a serious thought.

I must say that I thought it was a pretty common practice/'bodge'!

If I had and had actually tried it I might have been surprised by the result (or I might have still be apprenhensive about the strength or lack of it ) of being able to hold a switch or socket in place to a reasonable practical degree.

As I've implied, I think you might be a little surprised. As I've said, it really does not need much 'strength' at all - indeed, I think that just 'the other screw' will usually be enough to hold a faceplate on "to a reasonable practical degree"!

I will put it on my bucket list of things to actually try and test, although now retired the opportunity to come across suitable candidates has diminished - a little test run with some metal boxes when I have a couple of hours spare though should suffice.

It ought not to be difficult to create a "suitable candidate", if you attach some old metal faceplate to a metal box and fairly vigorously 'over-tighten' one of the screws (maybe with an 'electric screwdriver' - which one should normally never use on such things!), you will probably fairly easily 'strip the thread' of the lug.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I must have missed the detailed price chart the last time I looked, seems like the price for one is 89p. For two it’s only 53p.

https://www.accu.co.uk/brass-threaded-inserts/849011-HTBBI-M3-5-BR

Seemingly plus £5.25 for the cheapest p&p on offer.

 

[Ragnar_AT]

Seemingly plus £5.25 for the cheapest p&p on offer.

Yes, that’s what I wrote in my initial post, I just missed that the 7p price wasn’t for one piece.

 

[JohnW2]

Yes, that’s what I wrote in my initial post, I just missed that the 7p price wasn’t for one piece.

You did indeed. I was just reminding people what the 'total price' was likely to be.

 

[JohnW2]

I possess a "Dremel" type tool, so would cut a slot right at the bottom of that lug, drill a clearance hole all the way through the back for the screw and glue a nut in the slot. If I didn't have a nut I'd salvage a lug from a metal back box (50p from Screwfix).

That would, indeed, be another way to do it. However, it would only really make sense if one felt (I would suggest 'pretty bravely'!) that one could get the tool in and cut that slot with all the wires in it, with the box 'in situ' without damaging any of the wires. If one felt (as I probably would) that it was only safe to do as you suggest after removing the box, then one might as well put a new box in! To remind you of 'access' ...