Metallics TEK10PB 6 x 1/2 in. Pan Head Phillips Self-Drilling & Tapping Screws - #2 Drill Point - Steel Zinc - Each

A #6 diameter by 1/2 inch long screw with 20 threads per inch in UNC. The 20 TPI machine-screw thread is what lets it tap and hold in sheet metal rather than needing a pre-tapped hole. At 1/2 inch overall length it is sized for thin material, not for pulling up a thick assembly, so measure your total stack against the 0.035 to 0.090 inch panel range before ordering.

A #2 Phillips bit. The recess is Phillips with a 0.159 inch recess diameter and a gaging depth of 0.055 to 0.080 inch, which is a shallow enough pocket that a worn bit cams out fast. Torsional strength is 24 lb-in minimum, so a high-torque impact driver will twist heads off if you do not back the clutch down. Run them on a screwgun with depth control, or an impact set low, and let the drill point do the work before the threads pull.

No pilot hole. It is a Type BSD self-drilling and tapping screw, meaning the point drills its own hole and the threads cut their own thread in one pass. That is the whole reason to use it over a sheet metal screw, which does need a pilot in steel. Hold steady pressure until the point breaks through, then let the threads pull the joint tight.

Pan head sits on top of the surface, it does not countersink. The head measures 0.256 to 0.270 inch across and 0.087 to 0.097 inch high, so figure on just under a tenth of an inch of head standing above your panel. That is what you want for clamping a bracket, strap or cover plate down, and it is why the bearing surface holds in thin sheet. If you need the fastener flush with the face, this is the wrong head type, look for a flat head self-driller instead.

Both, yes. The TEK10PB self-drilling screw is flagged Buy American compliant and ARRA compliant, which is the pair of boxes a federally funded school, municipal or healthcare project usually needs ticked on submittals. Country of origin is listed as multiple, so if your spec requires a single named country of manufacture on the certification, that is a separate conversation from the compliance flags themselves.

Two apply. Head and recess geometry is built to ASME B18.6.3-2010, and the thread and drill point follow SAE J78-2013, the self-drilling tapping screw standard. That is what a spec writer or submittal reviewer is looking for on a fastener schedule. Worth knowing when you are matching sizes across a job: SAE J78 does not cover #7 diameter drill screws at all, so a #7 callout on a drawing is outside the standard.

Steel with a zinc finish, silver in appearance. Zinc plating is a dry-location and light-duty finish, fine inside panels, ceilings, mechanical rooms and interior framing. Full weather exposure, coastal air, or anywhere it gets wet and stays wet will corrode a zinc plated carbon steel screw, and the drill point is the first place it starts. For exterior or washdown work, specify stainless or a coated exterior fastener rather than plain zinc.

They ship by the box at a 10,000 piece minimum, and the box weighs 20.78 lbs. That is a stocking quantity, sized for a contractor running sheet metal or electrical rough-in across a whole building rather than for a single service call. Metallics does offer other sizes and quantities by request if 10,000 of the 6 x 1/2 is more than the job needs.

Case hardness runs Rockwell C32-40 on the TEK10PB, which is the range that lets the drill point cut carbon steel without rolling over. Torsional strength is 24 lb-in minimum, so the shank holds against normal driving torque. The practical limit is not hardness, it is thickness: keep to the 0.035 to 0.090 inch panel range and the points last. Drive them into anything heavier and you will burn points regardless of hardness.