Name of mechanical fastener

[Michael Perata]

I want to side mount plates onto my MM Combo and while the cabinet use .125" +/- steel and think it too thin to tap and I can't get behind the wall to use nuts and washers.

Is there some type of fastener I can use on the cainet to accept the threads of a, say, 3/8" bolt? I need to assume each plate will support 400# on four bolts.

[Jamie Buxton]

How 'bout big hollow-wall anchors? In McMaster-Carr, I see ones with bolts as big as 1/2", and ones with shear strength as high as 3000 lbs.

[Bill Neely]

Nutserts are a threaded fastener for sheetmetal and can be inserted blind but I'm not sure that they make them for material as thick as you are working with.

[Michael Perata]

Jamie - thanks but I think Bill came up with the solution.

Bill - one site I looked at has nutserts with a grip capacity up to 5mm or .197".

Thanks for the help!!

[Lee Schierer]

I don't recall the name, but there used to be a company that made threaded fasteners that worked like a pop rivet. They would mushroom out behind the panel when you clenced them leaving threads firmly imbedded in the sheet metal.

PEM also makes fasteners of various types for use in sheet metal. Just do a google search for PEM Fasteners.