Metallics QK60M 10 x 2 in. 5/16 Hex Head Slotted Sharp Point Self-Piercing & Tapping Screws - Steel Zinc - Each

No pre-drilling. The QK60M is a sharp point self-piercing and tapping screw, so it pierces thin material and forms its own thread as it drives. Twin lead threads cut the driving torque, which matters when you are running a lot of them overhead. The screw is hardened to Rockwell C28-38 so the point holds up through sheet steel.

It is a #10 diameter screw, 2 inches long, with 12 threads per inch. The 2 inch length gives you room to go through furring, strap, or a stacked assembly and still get thread into the substrate. Thread engagement is helped by the undercut area beneath the head, which keeps thread running right up under the seat instead of leaving an unthreaded shank.

Two ways to drive it. The head is a 5/16 hex, so a 5/16 nutsetter in a drill or impact is the fast route for production work. It is also slotted, so a flat blade works for one-off or tight-access fastening where you cannot get a socket on it. Slot width runs 0.045 to 0.054 inch and slot depth 0.052 to 0.074 inch, so use a thin cabinet-tip blade rather than a wide keystone.

The QK60M is flagged Buy American compliant and ARRA compliant in the manufacturer's data, which is what a government, school district, or federally funded institutional spec typically asks for on fasteners. Country of origin is listed as multiple.

The head carries an integral washer face measuring 0.384 to 0.414 inch outside diameter with a 0.019 to 0.031 inch washer thickness. That spreads the load without adding a loose washer to the install. Head width itself runs 0.244 to 0.25 inch across with a head height of 0.096 to 0.11 inch, so it seats low. Note that self-piercing screw head dimensions differ from standard tapping screws, and there is no single industry standard for them, so treat these as guide values for clearance holes.

They ship in a box of 1,000, and 1,000 is the order minimum, so this is a bulk fastener for stock or a full job rather than a handful. The box runs about 2.5 pounds.

The QK60M is steel with a zinc finish, which is a plating for dry interior and protected service, not a hot dip or stainless fastener for sustained wet or coastal exposure. For electrical work inside a building, in ceilings, chases, and mechanical rooms, it is the standard choice. If the fastener will sit in standing water, outdoors unprotected, or in a corrosive process area, specify a stainless or hot dip galvanized screw instead.

Not the same. The QK60M is a sharp point self-piercing and tapping screw, so the point punctures thin sheet and the twin lead threads tap it. A self-drilling screw has a drill flute tip and is what you want for heavier gauge steel where a sharp point will just skate or stall. For light sheet metal, strap, and thin stock, the sharp point goes in faster and with less torque.

Carbon steel to AISI 1018 through 1022, case hardened to Rockwell C28-38. That is the usual combination for a self-piercing fastener: a hard enough surface to pierce and tap sheet metal with a core that is not brittle enough to snap heads off when you drive them with an impact.

Yes. The QK60M is the #10 x 2 inch size in the Metallics JQK series of hex head slotted sharp point self-piercing screws, and other sizes and quantities in the series are available by request.