PVC Thumb Nuts

A little while ago I made some thumbscrews out of some recycled PVC sheet, but I needed some thumb nuts for a different project. It's a pretty easy build that's super useful for various projects.

• PVC Sheet
• Drill
• Holesaw
• Nuts (M6)
• Washers (M6)
• Bolt (M6)
• Spanners (10mm)
• PVC Cemment
• Sandpaper

Use a holesaw to cut out some 'wheels' from the PVC sheet, you need two wheels for each thumb nut.

On one of the wheels drill a 10mm hole, this needs to be the same size as the nut. On the other wheel, the hole needs to be smaller than the nut but larger than a bolt, I drilled a 7mm hole.

Now insert a small bolt through a penny washer, then the PVC wheel with the large hold and finally the nut. Use two spanners to tighten the bolt until the nut is pulled into the hole in the PVC. At a certain point the nut will slip off the spanner, now you can undo the bolt and use a vice (with soft jaws) to press the nut the rest of the way into the PVC.

I now cleaned up the PVC parts with some methylated spirits and then applied some PVC cement to one piece. I then used a bolt and washer on one side and clamped the two sides together. Once it dries you can remove the bolt.

Now using a piece of threaded bar or another bolt to secure the thumb nut into the drill and use some course sandpaper to shape the PVC. Once you are happy with the shape, I rounded the edges over, use some fine sandpaper to smooth it all out.

Lastly I used some acetone to wipe off any spilt PVC cemment.