What I used for HDD Screws in a Pinch

[BuckSkin]

Everyone here helps me a lot; I thought this might help someone else sometime.

I fabricated a rack on top of my machine to hold some SATA-connected 3.5" HDDs

When it came time to attach the HDDs, the normal HDD screws were about 1/8" too short for the 1/8" thick aluminum angle that I used to make the rack.

I thought I had things covered, as I had a jar full of 3mm machine screws that were plenty long, plus a jar full of 3mm nuts that could be used to take up any extra length.
Several things that I had mounted, optical drives, front-mounted USB panels, 2.5" HDDs and SSDs, and the like had taken 3mm screws.

Not so for 3.5" HDDs; they take good old American 6-32 screws; I found that out when I started to mount my HDDs.

Being a custom rifle-smith, I had jars full of 6-48 screws, but nowhere on this place could I find any 6-32s other than the too-short regular HDD screws.

In a moment of desperation, and wanting to get this new toy up and running, it dawned on me that light-switch and outlet cover plates are held on with 6-32 screws.

I happened to have a box full of various switch and outlet plates that I had picked up at a swap meet for a pittance; I robbed them of enough screws to finish my project.

The switch-plate screws have an oval head and are about 5/32 too long.
I remedied this by putting an 8-32 nut and a #8 flat washer on each screw; the nut allowed the oval head to nest within and the thickness of the nut, plus the washer, took up the extra length nicely.

Had I not have had the box of swap meet switch-plates, to get by, I would have robbed the screws from the switches in the shop.