End tapping 80/20 Ultra Lite

mwu

New Member
#1
I would have bought the kit if it was in my budget to do so. I like the design and I like supporting small companies. Instead I have been slowly purchasing parts here and there. I ordered the ultra-lite 80/20 extrusions and only once they got here and I tried to tap them did I realize I should have ordered lite rather than ultra-lite. There is an extra challenge involved in tapping them because of the difference in the profile.

I've detailed the problem and solution I came up with in a blog post in case anyone else runs into the same issue (probably not, but I have time to kill while saving up for more parts): http://wudev.digitaltorque.com/2014/11/ ... -lite.html
 

mwu

New Member
#3
Lol, yes that would have worked much better! I was working off of a Home Depot purchase. Messing with the wax was a pain, but it got the job done.
 
#5
Thanks for the info on the taps. I'm converting my Kickstarter version gMAX to the 1.5 and am now at the point where I need to secure the top bar onto the two vertical posts. I was hoping there was another way to secure the bar, but it looks like I'll have to buy a 5/16 tap and drill some access holes so I can tighten the bolts. Maybe I'll just encase these joints in wax and hope that it holds.

Chris
 

mwu

New Member
#6
If you don't have the extrusion profiles with the diagonal openings from the center hole, any 5/16" tap should do (I got mine from home depot). If you do have that profile on your extrusions, I suggest the tap Gordon mentioned -- or any tap with just two flutes instead of four.

It's when the tap has four flutes that end up matching the diagonal channels in the extrusion center hole that there are issues.
 
#7
sherpa_chris said:
I was hoping there was another way to secure the bar, but it looks like I'll have to buy a 5/16 tap and drill some access holes so I can tighten the bolts. Maybe I'll just encase these joints in wax and hope that it holds.
Chris
I had never tapped anything before and I had plans to tap and assemble a recently built printer over a weekend. I mistakenly purchased a metric tap. I live in the mountains in Northern California and I didn't want to make the 2 hour round trip to Home Depot to exchange it. - The local hardware store didn't have a standard tap (out) but they had 1/8" thick 90" steel angle brackets. So I used that to join all my framing sections. It's basically the same thing as the 90 degree aluminum brackets that secure the Z axis extrusions to the main frame from the rear side per the gMax spec/kit. I drilled two 1/4" holes on each leg (4 holes per bracket) to secure with T-nuts, spray painted them all matte black to match the 80/20 frame& the black oxide 3/8" bolts and washers.

Frankly, I wasn't sure if it would work but it did. It's extremely solid and square. And the extra bolts & brackets give it that extra beefy/ sturdy look. I don''t think it's better or worse. Just different But it works great. - It's definitely more expensive than tapping but it would have cost me $40 in gas just to return the tap that day to stay on schedule.

So if anyone is planning on building or converting a gMax there is an alternative to tapping.

Cheers,

Larry