I just started building my new Express XL. There are 3 dowel pins that align the extrusions until the joining bracket is installed. The problem is that these pins are much too large to fit in the holes. The assembly instructions says they go in with a ‘little force’, but the only way they would go in for me is tapped in with a hammer. The instructions go on to say you can just slide the extrusions together. For the life of me I cannot get these to come together. Not even a hammer could convince them to connect (although I did not tap very hard so as not to damage the extrusions).
Anyone else have this problem? Should I widen the holes with a drill?
@Jon My recommendation is that you do not use the dowel pins if they do not insert properly. The dowel pins are not required and were added to the design later as a convenience. Unfortunately, they don’t always fit and we’ve decided to remove them from the kits in v1.6. Again, they are a “nice to have” and are not necessary. I don’t use them in my setup and I would advise against attempting to bore the holes to a larger diameter.
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I talked with FarmBot support, and they also said the pins were unnecessary. Could we make a suggestion for the hardware documentation to indicate the pins are not required? This could save users a lot of frustration when getting set up.
I already had the pins in the first subassembly (with the light persuasion of a hammer), and they were stuck so hard that I could not extract them even with vice grips. I tried sanding the pins down to a smaller diameter without success. That left me with two options - forcing them together or cutting the pins flush with the first subassembly. I tried the hammer with a little more force but that started to dent the end of the second subassembly so I had to stop that. In the end I used a sawzall to cut the pins and chiseled the end smooth. Then I could get the two to come together and install the gantry joining bracket.