cheap extrusion nuts here

i have not seen this suggested. a friend came up with a way to get cheap extrusion nuts. just buy square nuts and file edges to fit in. works better than the Economy T Nut that cost $0.20-0.25 a piece because they fit tighter.

here the square nut is $0.08 a piece
[www.fastenal.com]

he said it is fairly easy to put in vise and hand file 2 corners. he had old stock one was 7/32 thick but another box was 5/32 thick and didnt need much filed off at all. i only found the 7/32 for sale. also im using 80/20 1x1 inch t-slot witch uses 1/4 inch nut and bolt not sure if it would work for other sizes.

here are some pics

Works fine for a few, but how long is that going to take to file them down if you need 100?

Something like this works fine as well, and requires much less labor: [www.thingiverse.com]

yea would not want to do a boatload he made me 30 or so said it took 15 - 20 min. the 5/32 thick nut went faster it only takes a few strokes with file.

the one you linked im sure work fine also. this is just another alternative.

You saved $3.60-5.10 in 20 minutes. The question is, would you want to make $10.80-15.00 an hour making those nuts? If so, then this is legit. Nice find

Got a free pack of 100 t-nuts when I bought my extrusions... For a total cost of 66 euros for the mendelmax 1.5 extrusions and a 100 t-slot nuts!

Last night I discovered by chance that M6 flat locknuts like these in A2 stainless steel from toolstation UK work.

[www.toolstation.com]

They slide into Bosch Rexroth 6mm slot extrusion from the ends but only with the stamped markings facing forward, which is odd, probably to do with the swaging process leaving a slight assymetry. The fit when they are the right way around is truly perfect. M6 threaded bolts etc fit nicely inthe BR 6mm slots to meet the M6 lock nuts.

2 pennies each - but you loose the ability to insert them through the face of the slot, only possible from the ends. When "economy" T-Nuts are 30pence+ each that loss is worth it if you ask me. Just put too many in incase you need more later!

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I Design/Sell all-metal hotends. My company is called e3d-online - you can buy at [www.e3d-online.com]

I tried this with those same square nuts that you linked from Fastenal. To get them to fit I lined up 10-12 at a time in a vise and carefully moved my dremel along with a grinding wheel. This took way less time than filing down 1 at a time which I found also to be incredibly time consuming.

yea i was thinking it may not be to hard to come up with some sort if jig to speed thing up if you wanted to do alot. also if you can find the 5/32 thick square nuts. he had them from his dads stock which are probably 20-40 yrs old.

i had some 6mm jam nuts i tried i think they would work but they were loose this was in 8020 1x1 inch tslot. wonder how 1/4" jam nuts would work. one thing i like about the square nuts they fit in tighter the cheap t-slot nuts so they are easier to get bolt started