Modular Leg Leveling Bolt Adjuster Wheels

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I'm tired of fighting with leg adjustment bolts, so I made a thing to make them a bit easier to screw up and down.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6290302

It's far from the most complex thing I've done, but I figured many of you might find it useful.

It's designed to work with 1/4-20 bolts. It slips over the shoulder. I found it seems to hold snugly, but you can always drop a dab of CA in there if they flop around on you.

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[wm3798]

What you need is something with a hex or square that you can grab with a narrow wrench so you can make the adjustment after the module is set and clicked together.

Anything that makes you lift the module to put your chubby fingers under there defeats the purpose.

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What you need is something with a hex or square that you can grab with a narrow wrench so you can make the adjustment after the module is set and clicked together.

Anything that makes you lift the module to put your chubby fingers under there defeats the purpose.

Lee

They already have that: little 1/4" shoulders. These make it a lot easier when you need to slide your fingers under and don't have a lot of room to maneuver or really even "grab" something.

[Lemosteam]

Here’s an idea. Cut a slot through the screw support and the front face of the module using a biscuit joiner tool.  Thread a 2” diameter disc as a thumb wheel (maybe a plastic one could be found or a wood wheel could be made using a hole saw) with the same thread as the carriage bolt. Put the wheel in the slot with a nylon washer above and below the disc. Thread the carriage bolt from the bottom, through the hole and into the disc. This traps the disc so it can act as a nut, eliminating the T nut and any wrenches, above or below. If resistance is desired, spring washers can be added above and below the nylon washers to add more friction at the wheel.

Use a fine thread if you want finer vertical adjustment.

The wheel would only need to protrude a quarter inch.

[djconway]

What friends have done is to use a 1/4x20 eye bolt. That way you can stick a screw driver through the hole and move it up or down.

I'm stuck just outside Alexandria VA on AMT 171 behind a freight, running late and getting later.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What friends have done is to use a 1/4x20 eye bolt. That way you can stick a screw driver through the hole and move it up or down.

I'm stuck just outside Alexandria VA on AMT 171 behind a freight, running late and getting later.

I've seen that, but it's tough with the small amount of room on ttrak modules.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Here’s an idea. Cut a slot through the screw support and the front face of the module using a biscuit joiner tool.  Thread a 2” diameter disc as a thumb wheel (maybe a plastic one could be found or a wood wheel could be made using a hole saw) with the same thread as the carriage bolt. Put the wheel in the slot with a nylon washer above and below the disc. Thread the carriage bolt from the bottom, through the hole and into the disc. This traps the disc so it can act as a nut, eliminating the T nut and any wrenches, above or below. If resistance is desired, spring washers can be added above and below the nylon washers to add more friction at the wheel.

Use a fine thread if you want finer vertical adjustment.

The wheel would only need to protrude a quarter inch.

Did you go to work for Mercedes? That sure seems like quite the nice, but complex, solution.

[Lemosteam]

Ed it’s not as complex as it sounds. A two piece trapped design that allows adjustment without tools, or hard to access bolts under the module. You could skip the washers altogether.

I’ll make one later.

Btw. You could make the slots on your handy dandy micro table saw by simply raising the blade, or dropping the board down onto the blade. How many blades can you stack on the shaft?

[ednadolski]

I like these:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08SBYXJWF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Ed

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed it’s not as complex as it sounds. A two piece trapped design that allows adjustment without tools, or hard to access bolts under the module. You could skip the washers altogether.

I’ll make one later.

Btw. You could make the slots on your handy dandy micro table saw by simply raising the blade, or dropping the board down onto the blade. How many blades can you stack on the shaft?

I want to see it!

The blade on the micro saw doesn't move, and I the the answer is "one blade". It's not that powerful.

[peteski]

Why not cut a segment out of the corners to give some clearance for adjusting the legs?

[dem34]

In my experience, just having something to finger adjust really is the best in terms of delta of effort and convenience. My nicer modules have something similar which is a 3D printed cap that press fits onto standard hex bolts and locked in place with CA, and a felt pad added underneath.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3341012

The author's main intention is to make the bolts furniture friendly. But I found the Filament layer lines to act almost like a cheap Knurling that makes simple adjustments fairly quick and easy at the cost of making the module base height a little taller.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

In my experience, just having something to finger adjust really is the best in terms of delta of effort and convenience. My nicer modules have something similar which is a 3D printed cap that press fits onto standard hex bolts and locked in place with CA, and a felt pad added underneath.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3341012

The author's main intention is to make the bolts furniture friendly. But I found the Filament layer lines to act almost like a cheap Knurling that makes simple adjustments fairly quick and easy at the cost of making the module base height a little taller.

Jeez, I was looking for something just like that, but couldn't find it. I guess I was searching for "TTRAK" not "T-TRAK". Ugh.

Anyway, install done on Pavonia. Finger the knob has never been so easy.

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[timwatson]

Something that we’ve done that makes turning the bolts easier is to add a fender washer onto the lag bolt. We hammer the fender washer down onto the square part of the lag bolt with some epoxy sandwiched between the head and the washer

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Something that we’ve done that makes turning the bolts easier is to add a fender washer onto the lag bolt. We hammer the fender washer down onto the square part of the lag bolt with some epoxy sandwiched between the head and the washer

Oh nice. That's basically what I've done here, but without all the hammering.

What's that red coating?