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Recently picked up a couple of these ballscrews for a build. Is it typical that the bearings on the end are so tight they have to be forced on or should the bearings slide on with just a small tolerance and no slop?
I tried to test fit the bearings but can not get them to slide on by hand. I’m worried if I force them on then they won’t come back off.
Well, no luck. I left the lead screw outside for several hours last night with the temps being in the low teens. (Sorry no snow available). When I brought it back inside, I still had no luck trying to slide the bearings on. I’m pretty sure that I can drive the bearings on, however getting them back off afterwards will be a different story.
The current design that I have, I could add a linkage under the table connecting both Y rails above and below the table. Do you think that this design will be able to get away with only one ball screw and one 425oz Nema 23 Stepper motor, or should I incorporate 2? The design could easily be modified for either direction. The gantry is approximately 60” wide.
For a single Y ballscrew to work with such a wide gantry, your machine will need to be rock rigid. Otherwise you risk your gantry racking when cutting close to either end. If you’re using beefy rail blocks and you trust your overall build, go for it. If in doubt, use double Y.
Larger industrial cnc at 4’x8’ don’t use single drive. Got to be a reason. Granted idk what it would be other than racking. But at the very least we should not be your deciding factor.
I like your drawing, crude but it works. I didn’t even need to read the captions to follow. I was considering taking them to a machinist friend but that might work just as well. I hadn’t even thought of a drill, basically bc I’m a one man shop and doing this on a 1500mm screw would be cumbersome doing it by myself, but since the build is for my buddy, I have some assistance then.
The reason that I would see that most larger CNCs would have individual Y motors is because of the sub structure and legs being in the way. We are building this unit from 2”x4” extrusions. Any larger and the machine would have to have another set of legs installed in the middle, but this one should be stable and small enough to get away with away with only one leg mounted in each corner with stretchers. This will allow me to connect the gantry underneath the machine with a slab of aluminum, but I am considering connecting underneath the table with a 2x2 extrusion. Will be using 1/2” thick aluminum for gantry sides and a 3x6 Extrusion for the X rail. Also using 15mm Hiwin style rails. So the machine is right on the mid line of using 1 or 2 motors and leadscrews on the Y. I have just found that the components that we have, it will be easier to connect everything underneath the table instead of beside the table. Otherwise I have to make special components to properly align everything where as the current components will just bolt onto the extrusions under the table. Figured the connection between above and below will also make for a stiffer gantry.
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