Metric fixings and Imperial T-Track

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Sporky McGuffin

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Arfernoon all - thought this might be helpful for anyone else who wishes to escape the tyranny of Imperial T-Track and use good, honest, scientific metric fixings. I hope this is helpful, and interested to hear of any other solutions people have found that avoid buying weird Imperial stuff.

On the K2 CNC machine bed (meant to take 1/4-20 Imperial fixings) I've been using either M6 square nuts or M4 drop-in T-nuts, each with a bit of studding and a little thumb nut. These can exert astounding levels of pressure.

On the Incra stuff the T-slots are also meant to take 1/4-20 (I think) but are a bit wider inside, so the M6 square nuts don't work quite as well - they can still rotate until they're tightened a bit. The M4 drop-in T-nuts work perfectly though, and the advantage of them is (if the name isn't enough of a clue) that you can insert them anywhere along the track and they twist into a locking position. For anyone wondering what I'm talking about:

Here are the M4 bits on their own:

20220104_193708.jpg


Here's a blue clamp with the M6 bits, and a red clamp with the M4 bits

20220104_193409.jpg


And here's both on an Incra right angle jig (these aren't the clamps I'd use on this jig, just to illustrate that they do work):

20220104_193601.jpg


Also useful for attaching sacrificial fences, temporary stop-blocks, and so on.
 
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