Construction Tools for 25 mm Rails

XE25 25 mm Construction Rail Accessories
Rails	Cubes and Brackets	Breadboard Mounting	Rail Joiners	Channel Insert
Construction Tools	T-Nuts and Screws	Enclosures		Enclosure Accessories

Features

• Customize Rails to Meet Exact Application Requirements
• Drill Guide Helps Form Perfect Corners
• Taps, Tap Guide, and Tap Wrench Put Threaded Holes in Custom Locations

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Home-Built 90° Corner
(See Construction Methods Tab)

Thorlabs' 25 mm rails form the basis of lightweight, compact mechanical assemblies. In order to deploy these rails in the most demanding applications, we manufacture an assortment of construction tools that aid with "do-it-yourself" customization. These include a drill guide for making sturdy rail corners, a tap guide for making tapped holes on the rail ends, 1/4"-20 and M6 taps, and a tap wrench. Please see the Construction Methods tab for details on how these parts are used. For customers interested in machining and finishing their own rails, we offer a raw 25 mm rail extrusion.

Thorlabs' accessories for assemblies made of 25 mm rails include corner cubes and brackets, T-Nuts, low-profile channel screws, breadboard mounting accessories, rail joiners, and a channel insert. In addition, we offer optical enclosures, enclosure accessories, and "do-it-yourself" tools like taps, tap guides, and drill guides for home-built XE25-based constructions.

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Home-Built 90° Corner

XE25 Construction Techniques

Thorlabs' XE25 rails and components are the building blocks for many types of modular systems, including custom enclosures. For the most demanding applications, Thorlabs recommends the "direct connection" technique for forming right angles with rails, detailed here.

Step 1: Drill Side Holes

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Step 2: Tap the Center Hole, If Necessary

All stock and custom-length anodized XE25 rails have a 1/4"-20 (M6) tapped hole in the end of the rail. If you have cut a standard XE25 rail, or are using the XE25RL2 Raw Extrusion, you will need to tap a hole into the end of the rail.

For this step, you will need the TAP1420 1/4"-20 Tap (or the TAPM610 M6 Tap), the XE25TG Tap Guide, and the TW25 Hand Tap Wrench.

Fix the tap inside the tap wrench. Place the tap guide block over the end of the rail. The hole in the top of the guide will keep the tap square with the hole and minimize the chance of misthreading. Turn the tap to thread the hole.

Step 3: Attach Low-Profile Channel Screw

For this step, you will need a SH25LP38 1/4"-20-threaded (SH6M10LP M6-threaded) Low-Profile Channel Screw and a 1/8" (4 mm) balldriver.

Insert the screw into the threaded hole in the end of the rail, and tighten down partway with the balldriver. If you are making a three-way connection, you will need to thread another channel screw into the end of a second rail.

Step 4: Join the Rails

Slide the head of the channel screw into the channel of the rail with the drilled holes, so that the hex head lines up with the hole. Insert the balldriver into the hole, and tighten the channel screw. If making a three-way connection, repeat this process with the third rail, as shown in the figure to the right.

For increased stability, the corners may be reinforced with the XE25A90 Right-Angle Bracket.