The Home Machinist!

Hi everyone. I am putting together a top for a metal stool that has a circular frame 11 5/8" in diameter. (Used to be a wood top that rotted away.) I am using a 11 7/16 x 1 aluminum round that I am going to encircle with a 3/16 piece of brass bar to make a top to fit the frame. The round I am dealing with has this little hole in it. (I believe it is 5/8 but I am not near it to check right now.) Any suggestions on which light-duty or decorative fasteners to use for attaching a thin piece like the brass, assuming I counterbore? (I can hand-tap the holes in the aluminum, but I can also not do that. I could even have fasteners on the iron exterior of the frame that holds the top.) Also, can you think of any kind of obscure or complex fastener which could fill the little hole (for looks) but also potentially hold the ends of the brass together at that point? There is a little variation in the diameter of the frame, so that it's 11 5/8 + 1/8, so even if there were a protrusion that took the top slightly beyond 11 5/8 at one point or another it would not be a problem. Thanks!

You could thread the hole and plug it or just a plug held with a long screw across the diameter.

Very cool ideas, thank you.

Having a hole right there inside the edge, is an opportunity. I was thinking about the banding and how it could be attached. A plug for that hole doesn't need to be threaded into it. It can float there because a threaded hole is thru it. That hole secures screws which secure the band. There are many ways and some include a latching device which -depending upon how you do it- would allow the seat material and cushion to be replaced very easily. The style is similar to storage or barrel ring clamps.