Selecting Screws to Use with Monarch Z Clips | Panel Clips
There are a number of factors to take into account when selecting the correct screw to use with your Monarch Z Clip | Panel Clip. Generally, the two most important questions are 1) what will fit with your Monarch Z Clips and 2) what will work with the substrate I am fastening to.
The Monarch Z-Clip System
For those of you that are not familiar with Monarch Z Clips, they are a blind fastening system used to hang wall panels, signs, artwork and more. The shorter panel clips mount to the rear side of the item being hung and engage with the Monarch Continuous Lengths which are mounted to the wall. The illustration to the left shows a cut through of a wall looking at the system.
Before we can discuss the right screw to use, first we have to be clear about where we are talking about: mounting the shorter panel clips to the panel or mounting the continuous length to the wall.
Choosing a Screw with a Z-Clip | Panel Clip
The screws that connect the shorter panel clips to the panel have to take into account the substrate and thickness of the panel and the height of the head of the screw. The most important variable is the height of the head of the screw, because if the screw head is too large, the Z Clips can not engage. See the drawing below which illustrates that for our standard Monarch Z Clips, the head of the screw can be no greater than .125â€. The most common screw head used with our Monarch Z Clips is a #8 pan head screw. For example, if you were hanging a 3/4†MDF panel, you could select either a #8 x 3/4†or #8 x 5/8†pan head philips black oxide deep thread screw. The deep threads help to get a better grip in the MDF material for better pull out resistance. Monarch stocks these in 1/2â€, 5/8†and 3/4†lengths.
For the wall side of the installation, the constraint with the height of the head is the same. The head of the screw used must be less than .125â€. Any #8 pan head, modi-truss head, or other low profile head should work. Your first instinct might be to use a flat head wood screw, however, to use a flat head wood screw you would need to countersink each of the holes on the z clips, which can be time consuming. You are also going to want to take into account the substrate and thickness of your mounting surface. Questions you should ask yourself are: Are they wood or metal studs? Will there be wall board over the studs? Is there going to be blocking installed?
