How I have protected my Guide Rails from the FSV Connectors grub screws.

[Ed Bray]

I have been thinking over the last couple of days how I could protect my guide rails from the grub screws in the FSV connectors but still give a decent hold when they are in use.

Initially I thought of buying some nylon tipped grub screws but they were slightly too long and worse than that, have you seen the price of them suckers? As I have 2 sets of FSV connectors I would have needed 16 of the grub screws and that made it just too expensive.

I then thought about other ideas and this morning came up with a good one that is a) relatively cheap, b) does not affect the operation of the connectors and c) is easy for anyone to do.

What I did is cut some 1" pieces of UHMWPE tape and fit them over the base of the FSV where the grub screw hits the guide rail as seen below. This give great grip but does not mar the guide rail in use, the tape is thin enough to not affect the fit in the guide rail.

Okay, I grant you it isn't the greatest idea that has ever been made, but it seems to work well, is relatively cheap (well it was for me I already had some UHMWPE Tape) and protects the guide rail.

FSV prior to taping:



Single piece of tape applied to FSV:



All tape applied to FSV:



Trimming tape from FSV:



Completed FSV ready for 'non mar' use:

 

[JeromeM]

Since UHMWPE Tape is designed to be slippery and low friction doesn't that mean you have to over tighten the screws?

 

[rst]

This is a good solution as while the bottom may be slippery the screws force the upper surface of the connector into contact with the rail holding them in place.  I actually sanded the bottom of my screws to remove the concave ridge which cuts into the rail.

 

[Ed Bray]

Since UHMWPE Tape is designed to be slippery and low friction doesn't that mean you have to over tighten the screws?

I don't seem to have to tighten them any more that I did before, maybe the answer lies I the post above.