Stripped holes

[bpopilek]

So far while assembling the top gantry, I have run into several holes that easily stripped out as soon at I started to put any tightness on them. I have tried some thread lock, which seems to have worked for some, but not all. One of the holes was bored too large from the start and has a lot of wobble in it.

vimeo.com/193991022

At least with the error of the top plate having through holes, a nut and a longer bolt should fix it for now. Won't be pretty, but function at this point outweighs aesthetics! Has anyone else run into this yet, or is it just my top plate?

[tkelley]

All of my holes on the top plate seem to have been tapped perfect, my issue is with attaching the flange bearings to the Y gantry with the M5 bolt. that one seems too tight of a fit, and I don't want to risk stripping it.

[bpopilek]

Both of my m5 holes on the y gantry were almost too big. As soon as they started to tighten I felt them wanting to strip. I stopped and put some thread locker on them. Seems to be ok for now, but time will tell.

[tkelley]

I have the gantry all set up. In the newer video about the carriage, he says to use the M3 bolts to bolt through the blower fan, but the m3 bolts don't fit. I was debating just widening the holes. Only problem is I can't go back if I do, you know?

[bpopilek]

Dec 3, 2016 6:03:11 GMT tkelley said:

I have the gantry all set up. In the newer video about the carriage, he says to use the M3 bolts to bolt through the blower fan, but the m3 bolts don't fit. I was debating just widening the holes. Only problem is I can't go back if I do, you know?

I also saw that but haven't had time to get to that point yet. I'm assuming the answer is yes, but perhaps we should let Andrew weigh in to be safe.

[3DprintedLife]

Dec 3, 2016 6:03:11 GMT tkelley said:

I have the gantry all set up. In the newer video about the carriage, he says to use the M3 bolts to bolt through the blower fan, but the m3 bolts don't fit. I was debating just widening the holes. Only problem is I can't go back if I do, you know?

The M3 bolt should thread into the fan and hold it in place! They may be a little tough to get started but once they do they will be a snug fit.

[m8kerrc]

well in my case the Belt bracket came with one of the holes to big with very little threads on the bottom of the hole . i had to use a longer screw but unfortunately im not able to tight it to much . so there some play .

[tkelley]

Perhaps you could use some glue / epoxy to hold it? A little glue in the hole and the touching face? That might tighten it up a little.

[3DprintedLife]

Dec 6, 2016 2:02:36 GMT m8kerrc said:

well in my case the Belt bracket came with one of the holes to big with very little threads on the bottom of the hole . i had to use a longer screw but unfortunately im not able to tight it to much . so there some play .

Yeah that's not good. I'm definitely going to be talking with my machinist to see what's going on there. For now I'd say go with a superglue (on the threads) if you're feeling brave, or strong loctite and get it as snug as possible before the threads give. You will want this connection to be solid. For anyone who still has this issue later on after I am taking preorders, I will be able to order an extra part and ship it free of charge!

[bpopilek]

I also meant to post about my hot end bracket. The top piece had the holes strip out. Some longer m3 screws and nuts fixed it for now.

[3DprintedLife]

Well drat...ok I'm definitely going to have to look into the cause of this. I thought there was enough depth in all of these threads to hold just fine, so I'm going to have to see if its just that the exact aluminum they used was softer than normal or if the taps they used were worn out or gunked up and just didn't make good threads...sorry about this!!

[rock75]

Dec 8, 2016 17:47:50 GMT 3DprintedLife said:

Well drat...ok I'm definitely going to have to look into the cause of this. I thought there was enough depth in all of these threads to hold just fine, so I'm going to have to see if its just that the exact aluminum they used was softer than normal or if the taps they used were worn out or gunked up and just didn't make good threads...sorry about this!!

Hey Guys! Sorry I am a little late to the party   Been super swamped with work since receiving my kit and have just now got a chance to get started on this.
I have to say at first dig through the box and laying everything out I am very impressed. everything looks great and I love the finish on the aluminum parts. Andrew also did a fantastic job of packaging and everything arrived safely despite some minor damage to the outer box.

So far this evening I got everything laid out and started on the upper section and got my rails installed with no problems. moved on the "y" rail and started with the first M5 bolt and was shocked at how easily this stripped. It was a little snug to start but then seemed to loosen up and started to thread down. After a few turns I realized it was not tightening because it had already stripped out. It never even got "finger tight" before I realized it was too late . I am definitely no metal expert, but this aluminum seems waaayyy to soft to be able to strip out this easily. I will take bpopilek's approach and just use a slightly longer bolt and a nut to make it work to get up and running, but will defiantly need a more perminaant solution at some point. 

Thanks again Andrew for your awesome work on this! I think I can speak for all of us that are participating in your beta kits that we definitely understand there can be some hiccups along the way with these. Heck, that's part of the fun and challenge as an early adopter   Will keep you posted now that I finally have a chance to get going on this build.

Cheers~
Rock

[3DprintedLife]

Hmm that's weird, it almost seems like they used the wrong pitch tap for the threads. Since it was a rush order rework it is possible, I will look into it. As I have mentioned before, I will offer all beta customers an option to purchase any new full-production parts at cost or lower. In the case of the top plate and this piece, I would make them a bit lower than cost!

[tkelley]

I'd like to chime in that for me at least, the whole printer was able to tighten down just fine on my kit. I guess I got lucky here. The only issues I've had so far was that I had to use an exacto to widen the holes on the blower, and was worried about striping one hole on the y gantry, but it turned out fine. I plan to work on the electrical once the LCD and such get here. Just got an email that it should be here in a couple days.

[bpopilek]

Dec 10, 2016 0:22:56 GMT tkelley said:

I'd like to chime in that for me at least, the whole printer was able to tighten down just fine on my kit. I guess I got lucky here. The only issues I've had so far was that I had to use an exacto to widen the holes on the blower, and was worried about striping one hole on the y gantry, but it turned out fine. I plan to work on the electrical once the LCD and such get here. Just got an email that it should be here in a couple days.

I got confirmation that mine shipped today too. I emailed them and they found an error in their system on the vicki lcd orders that somehow left them in limbo. As far as the blower goes, I forgot to mention that I had to use a few washers to adjust the height of mine. It kept wanting to touch the hot end. I'll post a pic later.