I’ve been trying to think of the correct term to google what I’m looking for and I’m drawing a blank. I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction on what to look for.
I have 2 small openings in the dash of my truck that are pretty much worthless. Each is approximately 2"x2"x2" with the opening towards the front. What I would like to do is find some type of bar mount that I can insert into the opening and then expand to clamp into place. I’m thinking of something that would work similar to a hollow wall anchor except that the force would be outward.
A “clamp” doesn’t seem like the right term. If it’s a type of spreader, what is the correct name for the type? Does this make sense? Does anyone know what the name of this type of gadget would be?
What are your trying to accomplish? If it were me, and I was trying to make something, like a bar to span the opening, so that it could be utilized, I’d cut something slightly longer that the width of the opening and tap it into place.
Or you could just grab a 10 cent threaded bar (bolt with nothing with threads, no hex hed or anything) and cut it slightly shorter, mount two nuts on each end and thread them out to tighten it.
Most of the entries I’m finding are for heavy-duty uses. A quick scan didn’t show me anything that would fit in a 2 inch box but I’ll keep looking.
Philster: You’re on the right track, sort of. Your suggestion would look like a T. The cross bar would fit inside the opening with the rod sticking out. Except that the cross bar needs to be a + for stability with the bar coming out through the center. I tried to imagine how I would do that with stock parts from Home Depot and couldn’t get it to work.
I am pretty sure Philster is not talking about a ‘T’ at all. Get a threaded bolt that has no ‘head’ on it - just a threaded bolt, straight with nothing else to it. Like the opposite of a turnbuckle, I guess, where you turn the nuts instead of the middle piece (hope ya follow this). Get it to length a tad smaller than the ~2" width, just barely smaller. Then place a nut on each end and screw them on 'til each is flush with end(s) of bolt. Place in opening and ‘unscrew’ each nut and as they unscrew they will (or should if measured right!) start to press against each side. Keep ‘untightening’ the nuts until its as tight as wanted/needed.
If I am misunderstanding, my apologies, but I don’t see a ‘T’ here at all. (HTH) I have used similar applications of ‘expanding bolts’ myself for similar reasons, fwiw, and its real simple to accomplish once the thing is visualized
I guess I’m not being entirely clear. Imagine if you will an empty box. I want to have a rod sticking out from the box that I can attach stuff to, something like this:
---- |
X—/
The X is where I need the spreader to press against the inside of the box and hold the rod in place. I was hoping not to have to drill into the dashboard and have something that would be removable. I get what Philster was recommending but all that does is give me a cross bar without the corresponding rod sticking out. That was my reference to the T idea I thought he was proposing.
I may go back to HD and see if I can piece something together using the threaded bolts as suggested with some type of T in the middle. I was just hoping there would already be a gadget that would accomplish what I wanted with some type of screw mechanism to push out against the sides. I just couldn’t think of what that gadget might be called.
You might be able to use an expanding stake-pocket anchor like you see on the sides of pickup trucks (I have no opinion on that particular model, that’s just what came up on a Google image search). These are just bolts which compress a piece of rubber so that it presses against the sides of the hole. I don’t know if these are quite the right size for your application; you’d have to measure. I also don’t know if the sides of the hole are strong enough for this use.
There are also similar expansion plugs used in plumbing, which come in lots of different sizes; of course they’re round, so you might have to do some cutting to get a nice fit.
This is the right track! The anchor method is exactly what I was looking for. I’ll have to see if I can replace the eye with a similar sized threaded rod to achieve what I want but this puts me on a path to figure something out. Thanks for the help in narrowing down the right search term.
What about something like this?
I would go to Home Depot or Harbor Freight and see if you can find a small enough one.
Many of these types of clamps allow you to take the two pieces off and put them on backwards so that instead of clamping it spreads.
A small turnbuckle would be a more elegant solution along these same lines (and easier to tighten and re-tighten from time to time. But it wouldn’t give you anything to mount something on. I assume the OP is attempting to mount something to this.
No problem, Rick. This won’t be anywhere where it will cause a problem. I’m also looking at a fairly small setup. The opening itself is only 2" wide and I’m not thinking of mounting anything to the rod heavier than an iphone (just as an example for weight).
