Tapped holes in gantry to attach controller

sjj47 · Post by **sjj47** » Fri Sep 04, 2015 5:59 pm

This one has me stumped.

I can't attach the controller board to the gantry. I see the two tapped holes in the gantry, matching the controller holes. None of the screws or bolts in the kit work for the gantry holes. M6 is too small. Tried M7 and M8 -- too large. Tried imperial 1/4-20 and 1/4-28 -- didn't match the threads.

So what the heck size screw hole is it? And why wasn't there anything in the kit?

Post by **cvoinescu** » Fri Sep 04, 2015 6:04 pm

Do they actually have threads? Because my guess is they're intended to be M8, but left untapped (6.75 mm diameter).

sjj47 · Post by **sjj47** » Fri Sep 04, 2015 6:29 pm

Yes, they do have threads -- just not any threads I can identify. And the original Assembly Instructions do not appear to identify the screws used in that particular assembly. The hole is definitely bigger than M6, smaller than M7 (which was hard to find) or M8. So it must be Imperial, right? 1/4" is about right, but neither 1/4-20 or 1/4-28 fit.

AnonymousPerson · Post by **AnonymousPerson** » Fri Sep 04, 2015 6:43 pm

sjj47 wrote:This one has me stumped. I can't attach the controller board to the gantry. I see the two tapped holes in the gantry, matching the controller holes. None of the screws or bolts in the kit work for the gantry holes. M6 is too small. Tried M7 and M8 -- too large. Tried imperial 1/4-20 and 1/4-28 -- didn't match the threads.

So what the heck size screw hole is it? And why wasn't there anything in the kit?

Just investigated it on mine. They should be M6 x 12mm button head cap screws:

http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/ ... pieces.jpg

Sounds like something went wrong when the threads on yours were tapped.

Post by **WillAdams** » Fri Sep 04, 2015 7:14 pm

There's been at least one instance of the hole being drilled, but not tapped.

Check that and contact support@carbide3d.com

xfredericox · Post by **xfredericox** » Fri Sep 04, 2015 8:57 pm

just re-tap it and be done with it!

sjj47 · Post by **sjj47** » Sat Sep 05, 2015 2:32 am

Yeah, it's not a big deal. I did retap the holes to 1/4-28, so everything is fine. But I think it is worth mentioning issues like this. Since I'm a newbie, I'm not always sure if the problem I'm seeing is due to my ignorance or to a problem with the kit. Maybe other people can learn from my mistakes.

Fablicator · Post by **Fablicator** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 3:30 pm

My machine had the same issue, with one of the taps on the extrusion stripped out. I'm also just going to re-tap it one size up.

ShapeokoSD · Post by **ShapeokoSD** » Tue Sep 15, 2015 11:41 pm

Mine had the same problem. I suspect the holes were drilled too big (it needs to be 5mm for M6), so when it was tapped, there was not enough thread available to hold the M6x12 bolts supplied to fit in there.
A solution will be to tap it one size up, but then the caps on the M7 might be to big to fit into the holes on the alluminum plate that the controller board is mounted on and you might need to increase the size on them.

Okinawanwinds · Post by **Okinawanwinds** » Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:20 pm

I had a same problem and I fixed them by wrapping those bolts with aluminum foil tape and tightened the screws. It seems good at now for me.

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Tapped holes in gantry to attach controller

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