Warning for assembling the gantry, don't overtighten the self-tapping screws!

Might be common sense to some of you, but as I was tightening in the self-tapping screws (M5 x 12 Pan Head Screw [30544-01]) for the gantry (Last step on Redirecting…) the head broke off. :frowning:

I had bought the tool kit along with the 1m X-Carve, and the T-25 driver wasn’t working out (not enough torque with that tiny handle), so I opted for a ratchet and a T-25 bit. It was almost but not quite snugged, maybe I pushed it too fast, but the head just popped right off.

Too short to reverse out with vice grips, looks kinda small to drill out. tried to cut a slot in it to putt it out with a screw driver, and it shattered. Guess I’m out one screw, and will have to see how it goes.

Okay, now it’s just a bad day. Head just came off another one while assembling the y-axis.

You better get rid of that ratchet. Never heard such incident. Must be frustrating.

That pretty impressive! I opted to pre-tap the extrusions by screwing in the screws in first, backing them out and then back in with the plates. This took abit of time (and got a couple blisters) but it made the build go easier.

By the time I had got to tightening these screws at the end my forearms where too tired to even consider breaking the heads off!

Yeah, must be just a wee bit too much torque with a ratchet (popped the head off without it on the second one though). I think Rusty had the right idea, sinking them in first. I found it was tons easier with a drop of lubricant on the screw before driving it in as well.

Gonna go ahead with the build and see how badly it messes with things. Guess I’ll have to get in two new makerslide rails and two new screws. XD

If you don’t wnt to try to use an easy out on them your self, a local machine shop can probably get them out easy enough. Most small shops do a fair bit of that. Save you a bit of time and the price of the rail. You can probably get them to tap it also, then you can just pick up a screw and lock washer at a local store.

Driving them straight in also generates a lot of heat which might have contributed to the failure. :frowning:

Better to lube and drive in a third, back all the way out, drive to two thirds in and back all the way out, allow to cool, add the plates then drive all the way in. This is how I did it using a very low speed cordless drill.

Thanks for the tips, I’m probably just too over eager and rushing things!

I’m going to pick up a screw removal kit tomorrow to try and get those pieces out. I’ve gotten a bunch of the xcarve put together (working on z axis now), but it looks like I’m missing at least 4 of those T-Slot Nut M5 pieces as well, so I’ll pick those up too and keep on it.