So the stuff about the 1/8” rod is… just a general fabrication tip.

If you’re ever reading a bill of materials and they call for threaded rod- which is unfortunately common for a lot of printer groups- you can almost always use the same size smooth rod if you cut thread on the ends with a die.

It saves money (threaded rod is smooth rod with threads cut the full length,) and it looks neater. (A drill and some sand paper and a bit of scrapped t-shirt cloth doped with green buffing compound will make it shiny, even.)

What the other person is saying about tap magic, is just to use lubricants while cutting. 3-in-1’s og is my go to. Tap magic is a similar brand. You can get by with wd-40 if you have to.

all it’s doing is helping with temperature, and making cleaner cuts since it lubes every thing (the cutting edge still bites, but it doesn’t bind as much with the chips.)

The other thing to remember is that every turn or half turn, you should break off the chips (the metal coming off,) by backing off a quarter turn. This helps keep the cutting head free making a neater thread.

Other than that there’s no reason to be intimidated by any of this. For this, you can probably just cut the m5 thread, but you’ll want to predrill what ever bolt’s standard bore size is, and be sure to keep that square and straight as you do.

The uxcell is a “cheap” brand, for a one-time thing it’s fine but if you find you use it more and it’s getting frustrating to use… it’s lost its edge and is dull.