Hi,
I’ve purchased and have been using the Aluminum Gator Tooth Clamps. They’re pretty nice, but I’m finding that the Button-Heads of the 1/4-20 screws grind into the side walls of the clamps when tightening. The clearance for the head of the screw in the channel is way too tight. They still work, but it seems like another iteration of the clamps should better accommodate for the screw heads. Thoughts?
I believe the slots were opened up to accommodate M6 washers — would they fit 1/4-20 hardware?
Hi Will,
Not sure how one would fit washers in the slot when the screw head hardly fits and grinds the sides. Image shows marks from 1/4-20 BHCS.
Or … you could sand/grind off a bit of the 1/4-20 screw heads. 
I have the stainless version and they have enough clearance for the screw. It’s very close, but they do drop in nicely. The difference could just be in their programming differences for the materials though. I don’t see why the counterbored slot couldn’t be 0.02" wider though.
I had the same problem with my batch. From what I can tell it’s actually bad tolerances on the screw heads. Out of all the screws only a few had the issue. Thankfully it’s a cheap fix to get some new ones.
@jjohnsen are you using button heads or the narrower socket heads? I think they slots are sized for SHCS not BHCS.
RMW
They ship with BHCS in 1/4-20 and M6.
My mistake. I participated in the Beta and they were supplied with SHCS.
Switching to socket heads should alleviate the problem anyway, at the cost of having to provide your own fasteners.
RMW
That’s a good point. Maybe they were made for SHCS, and are now shipping with BHCS for some reason…
I designed and 3D printed my own version of these clamps in SolidWorks. Printed using PETG @ 100% infill. They work great.
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