Local source for rack-mount screws?

Thu Jul 24 10:53:14 PDT 2003

I'm trying to help out a small startup that's finishing up a move from
a "carriage house" to real office space (barely) in Belmont -- east of
the Bayshore freeway, between Hobee's & Jameco.

One of the things that's been "inherited" from some prior tenant(s)
(who apparently went bust) is a couple of patch panels and a PBX in
a 14U (24.5") wall-mounted rack.

I've added a bit of stuff to what's in the rack, but needed to
cannibalize about half the existing screws from other equipment in
the rack.  And I'm having a much harder-than-expected time of being able
to buy a handful of additional screws -- thus this inquiry.

The screws that fit are:

* pan head
* kind of a "hybrid slotted-Phillips" drive
* 5/8" shank
* 10-24 coarse thread
* zinc-coated steel (though I don't really care about the finish).

I've checked:

* Empire Lumber (nearly next door)
* the Jameco catalog
* Ace hardware on Industrial Rd. in San Carlos
* Home Depot in San Carlos

I *think* I checked San Mateo Electronics, but I wouldn't swear to it.

I had intended to check:

* Graybar (815 American, San Carlos) -- couldn't find them; phone
  disconncted, no longer in service.
* Danforth Screw Works (formerly on Industrial Rd. near Holly in San
  Carlos) -- they now seem to be in Tracy.

One of my colleagues (who lives down in Santa Clara county) was
going to check Weird Stuff and/or HSC, but that does not appear to have
happened.  Since I live in Redwood City, I have some preference for
someplace not too far off-track from "between" Redwood City and Belmont.
(The concept of "between" starts getting fairly fuzzy when the universe
of discussion is more complex than uni-dimensional....)

Thanks...!

Peace,
david
-- 
David H. Wolfskill				david at catwhisker.org
Based on what I have seen to date, the use of Microsoft products is not
consistent with reliability.  I recommend FreeBSD for reliable systems.