Metallics JTS25M 10 x 1/2 in. Pan Head Phillips Sharp Point Tapping Screws - Steel Zinc - Each

The JTS25M is a Type A tapping screw with a gimlet (sharp) point and 12 threads per inch, so it is made to start in thin sheet metal, such as a steel box or enclosure, without tapping first. A pilot hole sized for the material is still normal practice in heavier gauge. At only 1/2 inch of length, grip is limited to thin stock, not thick plate.

The JTS25M is flagged ARRA compliant and Buy American compliant, which is what a government, school district, or transit submittal package normally asks for. Country of origin is listed as multiple, so if your specification requires domestic melt and manufacture rather than Buy American compliance as a program term, verify against the mill paperwork for the lot you receive.

No. The JTS25M is a Type A tapping screw with a gimlet point: it forms its own thread in a pre-punched or pre-drilled hole in thin sheet, but it has no drill flute and will not cut its own hole through metal. A self-drilling screw (point type 3 or a drill point) is what you want if you are fastening to steel with no hole prepared.

Use a #2 Phillips bit. The recess runs 0.186 to 0.199 inch in diameter at 0.124 inch deep, which is what a #2 tip is cut for. Dropping to a #1 will cam out and chew the recess.

Head height is 0.122 to 0.133 inch with a head width of 0.357 to 0.373 inch. That is a low, broad bearing surface, so it seats flat against a box ear or bracket without much protrusion, but it is not flush. If you need the fastener below the surface for a flat cover, you want a flat head countersunk screw instead.

Dimensions follow ASME B18.6.3-2013 and the thread form follows ASME B18.6.4, the tapping screw standard. Material is carbon steel in the AISI 1016 to 1024 range. Note that dimensions for #9 diameter screws in this family fall outside ASME B18.6.4; the #10 covered here does not.

Zinc plated carbon steel is a mild corrosion finish meant for dry interior work: panel boards, junction boxes, strut brackets, device mounting. In wet, coastal, or wash-down areas the plating gives up and the screw rusts. For those openings choose a stainless tapping screw rather than the zinc version.