I built sink base with 15-series and 5/16 bolts fit in the slots in good order. I ordered Grade 5 bolts from the Bolt Depot for the sink base.
Now I want to use 10-series for uppers. Have 10-series stock on site. Tried a 1/4-20 carriage bolt that I had in my shop and it would not fit in any of the slots.... except for one piece of 1/2 profile that I have. See photo below. That one fit in good order................Hmmmm?
Bolt Depot could not ensure me if their bolts would fit. Hate to buy a bag of 100 to find out. Tried my hardware store-- they did not fit.
Anyone else have trouble getting the bolts that fit in 10 series?
If you use 10-series, from where did you source your bolts?
Anything I built with 80/20 used the proper T nuts, the flat piece fits inside the slot. If you used carriage bolts I guess you could grind flats on either side of the round head.
I used T-nuts from tnutz dot com (cheaper than 8020 source) with 1/2" SS socket head pan machine screws, rather than carriage bolts. I used carriage bolts from bolt depot in a few places with 1010 extrusions and they mostly worked. I do recall in a few places I had to slightly grind off the edge of the carriage bolt with 1/16 inch thick grinder cutting wheel to get them to slide in. My issue with carriage bolts in 1515 extrusions is that sometimes I would torque them down too much and it would tear out some the 8020 edge and the bolts would just spin in extrusion; you do not have that problem with t-nuts. Plus, the head of the machine screws is much nicer looking than a nylon lock nut, plus you get less interference if using it with a an EL corner bracket.
I came across this last night because I ran into the same problem while mounting solar panels. I know this is an old question and you’re probably past it but I figured I’d share for others. These stainless 1/4-20 ones from fasten fit without any modification to them.
I have a short length of 10 series from either 80/20 or T-Slots. Have a collection of old 1/4-20NC carriage bolts. Found that some fit in the slot and some do not. Some have a square shank that protrudes past the slot so would require a spacer to tighten the nut..
Bottom line is carriage bolts are not all the same dimensions. Maybe take a piece of extrusion into stores to find a carriage bolt that works or buy from the extrusion vendor.
I found both the head shape and the length of the square section varied by source, even with the same supplier. I have 50 bolts that will not tighten correctly due to the square section being to long. If the supplier doesn't have specs on the bolt that match to the 8020 specs, it's a gamble.
Do you remember which sources had bolts that fit the the other dimensions besides square neck height (i.e. head diameter/thickness and square neck side length)? I'm already planning on using G10/FR4 spacers as a thermal break (similar to @natecostello and OurKaravan), and if the only issue is the square neck sticks out from the channel a little I can modify the spacers to fit around it. I've found a lot that list ranges where half or more of the bolts would fit, but confirmation that they all don't sit on the high end of their ranges would be great.
I used a bench grinder on the carriage bolts I purchased from the local hardware store.. Pretty sure I had to slightly grid two of the sides to allow it to slide right into the channel.
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