Using CRS as a bearing way

[aledford]

I've seen a lot of people using 1/4" CRS on top of 8020 as a bearing way. This is what I am planning to do on my new build. In all the builds I have seen, the CRS is attached with 5/16 carriage bolts mounted with the head in the slot and the steel bolted on with a hex nut. My question is could you drill and countersink the CRS and attach with flat head screw that would be screwed into T-nuts in the 8020 channel. Would this affect the strength or accuracy of the way. I think this would make for a cleaner looking build

Thanks for any info

Alton

[jsheerin]

You could, but if you used the 80/20 nuts, it would be way more expensive. Also, your holes would have to be placed more precisely. I'm not sure about others, but I drilled 3/8" holes for 5/16" bolts, and that gave me a little wiggle room when mounting the CRS rails. Then you can use calipers to tweak the CRS in so the edge is parallel to the edge of the 80/20 while you tighten the nuts down on the carriage bolts.

[domar]

Hi I am also looking at using crs for my rails. The problem with using csk screws ia that they self centre on the csk so you need to be spot on with your location. I will not be using 8020 just 50mm square aluminium tubing and I plan on using button head socket screws to mount it. This will give quite a neat appearance and no protrusions to catch on things.
Regards
domar

[leaveme]

Originally Posted by domar ... I will not be using 8020 just 50mm square aluminium tubing and I plan on using button head socket screws to mount it. ...

It looks interesting to me.
Do you have a picture of that...I would like to see how it looks.

[metalworkz]

You could also counterbore the mounting holes for either a button head or perhaps a socket head which will bring the heads down flush or almost flush with the ways and still provide some adjustment for the final fitting.