Hobbed Bolts

Here's the bolt I've been using in my latest round of experiments:

Home-made Bolt
Home-made Bolt

As you can see, the teeth are crudely effective. This bolt was made with a hand-held cordless drill and an M6 tap, and it shows! Also, due to the short shank, I had to insert them backwards, with the nylock in my wade's gear and the bolt head on the back- a less than ideal arrangement. If I had a lathe I could perhaps have cut the teeth straight into the threads, but that's almost impossible with a hand drill.

Auzze generously decided to send me a preview of some hobbed bolts he's going to sell via his online shop (still under construction), pictured below:

Auzze's Bolt
Auzze's Bolt

I think these will be far more effective, and at the very least more uniform! Unlike my dishevelled creation, these actually have a groove for the filament to ride in. The position of the hob is slightly different to mine, but some washer swapping had it lined up perfectly

Between Auzze, GregFrost and the various RUGs, it looks like Australia is really starting to get its reprap on!