The extrusions and rods for my MendelMax arrived last week, and I gave them to my cousin's husband to do the tapping and cutting. I've also got plenty of M5 fittings to put the thing together...but what I don't yet have is the self-tapping screws for the diagonal extrusions (I forgot to order them).
That got me to thinking: Why is it that the design calls for self-tapping screws in those ends, rather than just tapping the extrusion normally and using a similar-head screw? Is there a reason to do it this way that I'm completely missing?
My local hardware store doesn't sell the proper size screw, which means I'd have to order from McMaster-Carr...and that means I'd end up with way more screws than I need.
Are there alternatives?