Can I use turn buttons instead of eyelets?
Video length: 3m 06s
Turn buttons are a tidy alternative to standard eyelets for fixing a screen in place — but there's one important thing to know before you order, because you can't simply add them later to a screen made with standard eyelets.
What the video covers
A turn button is a two-part fixing: the eyelet fitted into the screen, and a twist-lock assembly that screws to whatever you're securing to — usually a wooden or metal post on a veranda or summer house. The eyelet drops over the lock and twists into place, holding the screen neatly. We don't generally supply the screws, as they depend on whether you're fixing into wood or steel.
Important — decide before you order
A turn-button eyelet is a special oval shape so it can lock onto the button. Our standard eyelet is 12mm internal diameter and circular — a turn button won't fit or lock through it. So if you want turn buttons, you need to tell us up front; you can't reliably retrofit them to a screen made with standard round eyelets.
Frequently asked questions
Can I add turn buttons to a screen I ordered with standard eyelets?
No, not reliably. Turn buttons need a special oval eyelet to lock into; a standard 12mm circular eyelet won't hold one, so the choice needs to be made when you order.
Do you supply the screws for the base?
No — the right screw depends on whether you're fixing into wood or steel, so we leave that to you.
Full transcript
Morning all. I'm going to show you quickly an alternative that we supply to eyelets, which are turn buttons. So typically an eyelet that will fit to one of our screens looks something like that — that is a standard eyelet. And what we have here is a turn button, which consists of two pieces: the eyelet itself, and the turn-button assembly here, which, as you can see, has a twist lock. So when the eyelet goes over the lock, you can twist it into place like that, and it stays there.
This is a pretty neat solution really. What it does require is for this section to be fitted to whatever you're securing the screen to. In most cases that'll be a wooden or a metal post on a veranda or a summer house or something like that. And we don't generally supply the screws with these, because the screws are dependent on what you're fixing to — whether it's wood or steel.
Now there is a common misconception, which is: okay, I'll just buy a screen with standard eyelets and then I'll figure out how to fit turn buttons at a later date, or I'll buy the turn buttons myself. And the problem with doing that is, as we'll see, the turn-button eyelet is a special oval shape — and that is simply because it needs to lock; the button itself needs to lock into place. Now that isn't going to work if you use a standard circular eyelet. In our case we supply a 12-millimetre internal-diameter eyelet as standard, and the button won't actually fit through that hole. Now obviously you can buy bigger eyelets, but you'll find that even if you can get the button through the hole, it's just going to twist around and it won't have anywhere to lock.
So it's pretty important to know from the outset if you want to fit turn buttons to your screen — whether we're supplying them or whether you fit them at a later date — you need to know, because standard eyelets won't allow you to fit turn-button assemblies like this.
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