BAN009 minus truss screw 0,6mm

A tenth of a millimeter above the smallest step

0.6 mm is the size at which the shape of the head starts to be legible on a model. A customer usually reaches for it where he wants it to be clear that this is a screw, but at the same time wants the detail not to overpower its surroundings. The typical targets are cable mounts, small clips and the edges of covers, where a larger head would come across as a wood screw.

Order of work

Lay the fitting out before you start gluing a subassembly. Drilling into a loose part is comfortable; into a glued-up engine you can no longer get with the holder and there is a risk of running the bit across the neighboring surface. The practice that saves nerves: all the holes first, then the paint, the metal last.

• a diameter of 0.6 millimeters
• a shape of head with a large seating face and a low profile
• one straight slot across the head
• an accessory for building and converting, not a finished product
• it calls for a hand drill and fine tweezers

When the hole does not fit

A loose hole is saved by a drop of thin cyanoacrylate glue applied with a needle from below, not from above. From above the glue creeps around the head and leaves a matte mark that cannot be got out of the paint. A hole that is too tight, by contrast, is better widened by one step than having the element forced in and a plastic collar squeezed out around it.

The tool for the slot

A screwdriver has to fit the slot by its width, not merely drop into it. A narrow tip rolls the slot out and the head then looks crushed; too wide a tip slides off and scratches the paint around it. A set of watchmaker's screwdrivers is a better investment here than repairs to the surface.

When tightening, rely on the feel of your fingers, not on the strength of your wrist. Material at this diameter shears off before you feel any resistance, and a broken-off remnant in the hole is harder to remove than anything else on the whole model.