Whether you’re a service contractor or a do-it-yourselfer, your projects depend on the strength of your fasteners. Tek screws, also known as self-drilling screws, combine screw agility and drill bit precision to help you work efficiently.
They drive into materials like wood, plastic and soft metal without needing a pre-drilled pilot hole. This eliminates a step in the fastening process and saves time. These self-tapping screws have a drilling point on the tip and a thread that creates the hole as it goes in. These features make them ideal for combining materials.
Many tek screws are coated in finishes that help them resist corrosion and damage, making them durable for demanding environments. Finishes include stainless steel, which resists atmospheric chemicals that can eat away at the fasteners, and zinc, which protects against mild levels of rust.
You can select tek screws by shank length and diameter, which indicate how thick or narrow they are. You can also choose a head style for the tek screw, which determines how well the screw distributes stress and what its finished surface will look like. For instance, hex head tek screws are ideal for heavy-duty applications such as securing HVAC components to liner panels.
You can further customize your tek screw selection by choosing the right drill bit for the job. The flute length on a screw is an indicator of how thick of a material it can drill into. Choose a bit that is a little smaller than the tek screw’s diameter to ensure it drives in easily and doesn’t pierce the material. Be sure to drive tek screws gently, as using too much force can strip the heads and ruin their finishes. tek screws