Metallics JDSP86 12 x 2-1/2 in. 5/16 Hex Head Phillips Sharp Point Tapping Screws - Steel Zinc - Each

That is what the gimlet point is for. The JDSP86 is a Type A tapping screw with a sharp gimlet point and 11 threads per inch, a coarse thread intended to cut its own hole in thin sheet metal, studs, and similar light-gauge material without a pilot hole. It is not a self-drilling screw with a drill flute on the tip, so heavy plate or structural steel still needs a drilled pilot.

No. The JDSP86 ships as a jar with a 100 count order minimum, so 100 pieces is the smallest quantity. Metallics does offer other sizes and quantities in the JDSP line by request if the #12 x 2-1/2 inch is not the size you need.

The JDSP86 is carbon steel with a zinc finish. Zinc plating handles interior and protected service well, which is where these normally land, but it is not stainless and it is not a hot-dip coating, so continuous exterior exposure, wet locations, or chemical environments will eventually corrode it. For those, specify a stainless or hot-dip galvanized fastener instead.

Both the ARRA and Buy American compliance fields on the JDSP86 are marked C, compliant. Country of origin is listed as China, so if your specification demands domestic melt and manufacture rather than the compliance designation on record, verify that against your contract language before submitting.

Dimensions follow ASME B18.6.3-2013 and the threads follow ASME B18.6.4. Steel is AISI 1016 to 1024, case hardened to Rockwell C28-38, with a minimum torsional strength of 83 lb-in. One caveat Metallics states: dimensions for the #9 diameter are independent of ASME B18.6.4.

Yes, there is an integral washer face under the hex head, 0.398 to 0.432 inch outside diameter and 0.022 to 0.039 inch thick. That spreads the bearing load over a wider footprint than a plain hex head, which helps when you are fastening through strap, clip, or thin sheet and do not want the head pulling through. Head height is 0.139 to 0.155 inch.

The JDSP86 is rated at 83 lb-in minimum torsional strength, with the steel hardened to Rockwell C28-38. In practice that means an impact driver set wide open on a thin-gauge application will twist heads off; back the clutch down and stop at seating. The 5/16 hex drive carries that torque better than the Phillips recess does.

A jar of the JDSP86 comes in at 2.05 lbs, with the container measuring 5.75 in by 3.5 in by 3.5 in. Useful if you are staging multiple jars in a van bin or a job box.