@keppel - Your suggestion has a lot of merit. I used your instructions to create a perfect coil of vertices that would meet my needs. Only one problem - I followed your instructions to Alt+C and nothing popped up to convert the curve to mesh. On the bolt, when I have it set to the parameters I need, I have a choice of verts or polys to make the curve. I am using the verts as would make the most sense. Am I missing something?

@heddheld - The addon "curves galore" was not available for download as of yesterday. I get a 404 message when trying to go to the script. I did manage to get the py script for screw modifier, but couldn't get it to load into Blender 2.64a. I'm working on another project that is giving me fits right now (see new thread) so will get back to it in a day or so.

Appreciate your help, guys. You're the best...

C~