Metallics JSTS60 14 x 1-1/2 in. Pan Head Slotted Tapping Screws - 18-8 Stainless - Each

The Metallics JSTS60 is a #14 x 1-1/2 inch Type A tapping screw with a gimlet point, which is the coarse-thread sheet metal screw made for thin sheet stock: sheet metal, resilient plastics, asbestos board and similar materials where the point pulls itself into a pre-punched or drilled pilot hole. At 10 threads per inch it is a coarse pitch, so it is not intended to be run into thick structural steel. It is catalogued for the electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning trades.

Mechanically yes, but be aware of the corrosion risk. Fastening 18-8 stainless parts to aluminum or steel can create a galvanic couple in some environments, which corrodes the less noble metal (the aluminum or the steel, not the screw). Outdoors, in wet locations, or anywhere near salt, either isolate the joint or use a fastener matched to the base metal. In dry indoor work the 18-8 stainless is fine and gives you the corrosion resistance a plated screw won't.

They ship 100 to a jar, and 100 count is the order minimum. So the smallest quantity you can buy is one 100-piece jar, not a single screw.

Slotted drive, with a slot 0.064 to 0.075 inch wide and 0.068 to 0.085 inch deep. That is a flat blade tip, not a bit, so it is a hand-driver screw in practice: a slot will not hold a driver bit under a gun the way a Phillips recess does. Torsional strength is 125 lb-in minimum, so the screw itself will take a good amount of driving torque before it twists off. Crews running screw guns usually prefer the Phillips version of the same Metallics self-tapping screw.

Two standards apply to the JSTS60: head and drive geometry to ASME B18.6.3-2013, and the tapping thread form to ASME B18.6.4. Worth noting for anyone spec'ing across the range that #9 diameter dimensions fall outside ASME B18.6.4; the #14 here does not have that caveat.

Metallics lists the JSTS60 as both Buy American compliant and ARRA compliant, with country of origin China. If your contract language requires domestic melt and manufacture rather than the ARRA/Buy American designation the manufacturer carries, check that against the origin before you submit.

A jar of 100 comes in at 1.84 lbs, in a container measuring 3 x 3.6 x 3 inches. Light enough to keep several sizes on the truck without thinking about it.