For the life of me I can't remember what they're =
called, but
they've got them in the "Fasteners" section at my local HQ =
(Home
Quarters - big store like Home Depot, only green instead of
orange)...
They're like short rubber tubes with a flange at =
one end and
a nut embedded at the other. The dia. of the tube should be the same =
size as
the hole in the metal. Push the little gadget into the hole - the =
flange
keeps it from going all the way through. Insert an =
appropriately-sized bolt
and tighten - as the tube compresses, it gets wider and eventually =
makes a
tight seal in the hole and flares out behind it. Mind you, I haven't =
seen
these things in very large sizes and I'd say they aren't made for =
high
weight or stress applications, and you can't tighten them =
*too* much -
but if it's just a piece of plastic trim you are fastening, it might =
do the
trick.
I first encountered them on my motorcycle where =
they're used
to attach the windshield to the fairing (all plastic), and I'm =
currently
planning to use them in place of those nasty plastic trim clips that =
hold
the interior panels to the body of my van during it's upcoming
renovations
Doug Fitz-Randolph
Yarmouth,
ME
dfrandolph@talkam.net
'90
Syncro
[sorry about the HTML...] =