Problems with Wixey Digital Fence

[Arthur Wood]

Hi,

I received a Wixey Digital Fence for xmas and am only now getting around to installing it (that says far too much about how little time I've had to get in the shop):(

Following instructions, and using the provided drill bit, I drilled the required holes in the bottom of my unifence. Then, using Wixey's provided, "thread cutting bolts" I started to thread the bolts into the fence. These bolts are obviously cutting threads as they go, so a wrench is needed to get some torque on them. Well, two bolts have broken (leaving the bolt body embedded in the fence!) I'm reluctant to continue (and break the remaining two) until I learn what's going on. Should I use a slightly larger drill bit (which would make sense to me, but not sure why Wixey would have provided one that's too small. (NOTE: many of you may suggest that perhaps I used the smaller (wrong) bit of the two bits that Wixey provide. Nope. I used the larger bit as instructed).

Can these "thread cutting" bolts be bought at a home depot?

Thanks

Art

[Eric Haycraft]

Sounds like the hole was too small. If you have a good collection of drill bits, you can try a larger size. I have not seen those self tapping screws at HD, so you are probably SOL on the two that broke. If you have a tap and die set, you may just want to buy 4 new bolts in a size that you can tap yourself.

[Bill Huber]

What I have found with those self tapping bolts is you can not put them in very thick stock. When you do put them in you turn them about a half of a turn and then back it back out and do it again.

I would say the best thing to do would if you don't have a tape go get one and get to bolts of the right size and tape them with a tape.

I just don't like those self tapping bolts anyway.

[Bud Bedwell]

The same thing happened to me. I went down to the local hardware store and got a thread tap and tapped some new holes. I spent a few dollars for a tap and some new bolts, but it was quick and easy.

[Kevin Ladenheim]

I didn't trust them so I tapped the holes M6-1.0 and then
put in the self tapping bolts. They still didn't go in that smoothly
even after tapping but after threading them in and out once they
turned pretty smoothly. I also did it this way so I could install the
wixey with the bies rail already bolted in.

They are kind of rounded triangle is cross section,
which may explain it. My M6-1.0 tap was also from Harbor
Freight, which could explain that also. I was amazed the tap worked
given that most people say that the Harbor Freight taps are
garbage. It wasn't very thick steel though. i just have them fro
chasing.