Questions about keyboard design

OK, here there are:

I have an ergogen mounting hole footprint with a 2.2mm diameter. The metric screw clearance chart I found describes 2.2 as "close": what does that mean? What I want is the screw to come through freely (without having to turn it).
But for the bottom plate, I would like the screw to be held in place without additional nuts (to minimize height). Can I just make the hole a bit smaller and hope I can screw the screw in?
Are the splitKB m2 screws flat enough to be placed between choc keys (with MBK keycaps)?

2 comments

Don't have this screws and have a bit different keycaps on my chocs, but most probably yes. My keycaps have 1.5mm gap from top plate. https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e22f231e-2e3b-4438-898e-508bf5dcf826.jpeg
Huh? I've always used a 3mm drill for a hole for M3 bolts, 4mm drill for a hole for M4 etc.

If you want a bolt to stick in a hole, you'd need to make it threaded using a tap. These holes need to be drilled even smaller (and there are charts for that), and the material would also need to be sufficiently thick or the thread will risk ripping.

I'd suggest that you instead use either threaded spacers with bolts from the top and bottom, or "barrel T nuts" if you can find them in a size that would work. There are also "Chicago screws" but they are really for leather-making so they are often not always made with as high tolerances as machine bolts.