Plate Screws !!

[Ron Nossaman]

> Not so fast small tech person........... Why do you think they used so many? 
>(not a single one was loose!)
>Jim Bryant (FL)
>



Uh oh, Jim, now you've done it. You've asked my opinion. Well, fortunately,
as it happens, I have one I haven't spent yet. First, why would the number
of screws involved have any bearing on whether they are loose or not? I
don't see a connection here. What do the plate screws do in the first place?
I'd say they hold the plate flat to the back assembly, since the back is
more resistant to the torsional forces involved than the plate is, and
provide a solid anchor to the same back assembly to keep the plate impedance
as high as possible (which is what the nose bolts are for too). Anything
over a couple dozen or so screws (total) and two or more nose bolts
(depending on the scale layout, strut location, and plate thickness, is job
security for union screw installers, by my call. More (screws, not
installers) wouldn't really serve any purpose other than to look like they
must be important or they wouldn't have been installed. From a functional
standpoint, I think you could leave every other one out in the webbing, and
not notice any difference. In short (yea, right!) I think it's overkill,
probably designed in on the premise that, if a few are necessary, a whole
lot must be a whole lot better. Then again, maybe they had a massive
overstock of screws that they had to use up before the yearly inventory.
Another possibility. Are they in any particular pattern? Like, if you focus
your eyes far enough past the surface of the plate, do alternate plate
screws visually converge to form a picture of Elvis, or anything?

 Ron N