Yo! I’m assembling my X-Carve and found the Makerslides have all been tapped. This was a pleasant surprise as I was not looking forward to this step. After assembling the Makerslides, I think that it would have been somewhat difficult to do. I very much appreciate you guys making this build that much easier. I’m still not finished with my assembly (at electronics step), but getting closer…
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It’s nice they provide the MS already tapped, but I didn’t find the tapping process problematic at all when assembling my SO2 a year ago. Al it takes is a little lube and a tiny bit of patience to get it done.
Practically next door! I’m 16,000km away from Inventables. Time and money involved for delivery but at least I don’t have the Customs hassles that you do. No duty, no tax.
Lucky… The thread-forming screws aren’t that bad, provided you use lubricant (WD-40, machine oil, etc)…
I started my X-axis/Y-plates without any lubricate, and was crying by the last screws on the 2nd Y-plate. It was a nightmare, and I was trying not to strip the tops of the screws by using sheer force with my T-handle torx driver. It was horrible… Fortunately I had the presence of mind to use oil with the rest of the makerslide, and was lucky (and strong) enough to be able to brute the 2nd Y-plate onto the makerslide before it could seize up without becoming flush with the plate.
However, my Z-axis makerslide was tapped, so that was cool.
To this day I have no idea why I didn’t lubricate the X-axis makerslides before screwing them into the Y-plates. That was the most hellish thing I had experienced in a while. I thought I was going to have to end up buying replacement makerslides. Which would have been a severe blow to my fragile ego.
USE LUBRICANT IF YOUR MAKERSLIDE ISN’T TAPPED, ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING, TRUST AND BELIEVE!
wait, what?
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Yes we are transitioning away from the untapped style. Shortly (if not already) all units will be shipped with tapped MakerSlide.
We did it in response to customer feedback.
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I just received 4 Makerslide rails yesterday and they were already tapped. Nice surprise.
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good thing to make it tapped
i ordered mine on christmass and it came without it
I broke a srew on the second taping…
so i bought an tapping tool M5, but for the makerslide with the broken screw… well… i’ve tried to drill it but i it dint go straight =’(
now i think my x-axis is twisted due to the srew that isnt well straight with the hole in the plate
Man I wished I had that happen to me. I went balls to the wall and used a drill…
Zach, when did you transition to tapped Makerslides?
Mine was shipped on Dec 14 and I received it Dec 29, but haven’t opened it yet.
I do have the correct drill bit and tap necessary to tap it.
Just curious. 
I ordered mine on 11/30/2015 (500mm) and mine where tapped
Hi Angus,
I got a couple of 5mm-0.8 taps and an 11/64" drill bit. But if all I need to do is just use the tap (with plenty of lubricant), then I am fine with that.
I tapped mine with just the tap and lube, there was no need to drill.