Makerslide UK

Hi, my name is Adam and im an engineer who lives in the UK. I am fairly inexperienced in CNC building but have years of professional engineering experience. I have just started to build my own CNC laser and what I have noticed is how expensive setting up linear motion is. In the US they have a system called maker slide which is basically a custom aluminium extrusion which has V rails built in. With this extrusion and a few v groove wheels you can get a meter of quality linear motion for less than $20. http://www.makerslide.com/

What im thinking is we should make this technology accesible over here. I have already got a fair bit of interest in this but I would like to see who on this forum would also be interested. I have not got any parts made up yet but I have started the process of getting tooling set up. Its not 100% confirmed yet but I expect to be able to offer the slide at around £13 / meter. The wheels would currently be available in delrin only at approximately £4 - £5 each. They could also be offered in aluminium at a slight premium.

please let me know your thoughts.

I think that type of linear slide would work in machines like plotters, scanners, laser-cutters or extruders - I would definitely be interested if it became available in the UK,

Nathan

A possible flaw in the extrusion design.

Where the "/\" is situated it may allow the overhanging section of the "/\" to collapse easily. A cure would be to alter the section at the back of the "/\" to have a 45 degree return back to the main block. This would also give another "/\" section at 90 degrees to the original, which would greatly improve the strength of this area.

There are various designs of extrusion with built in running surfaces on them from round bar to having linear type bearings attached. Although this is not a uk site it will give you some ideas : http://www.minitecframing.com/Produc...ystems_LR.html

Regards

Ian

I see the need to bolt another piece along the back, but isn't it more important to give the "/\" strength.

It does seem a little odd to have it hanging off the side of the profile like that i wonder why it isnt on top ? (i2i empty you mail box its full i cant pm you..)

I think they would wear away far to quickly to be practicle for a cutting CNC machine, laser or plotters yes but not spindle cutting machines.

Extrusion is soft stuff to start with so would wear away quickly if used with Aluminium wheels and delrin I think would wear very quickly unless rails kept spotlessly clean even then leaving slop after a short while.?

Too many grey areas for my liking.!!

Yes you are correct in that this type of extrusion is far more suited to a laser cutter/plotter or something like a plasma cutter which does not exert a huge amount of force. The extrusion would ideally be steel if it were for a router/mill. That said, as I will be getting a tool made it is possible to look at the strengthening the profile. Does anyone have some data or a formula to work out what forces a mill or router could exert against the rail. Assuming the rail would be far far cheaper than anything else on the market it could even be possible to run two sets of v-track on either side.

I work for a company that sells a lot of extrusions in the flooring industry. I managed to twist the bosses arm into making dies for a 45*45. 45*90,90*90 extrusions. We also had a rail support made for round bar that slots into the T slot, but needs to be screwed in from the opposite side. My latest arm twist is a tslot table but it is only134mm wide.You can use the Sbo 16 uu/20/25 round linear bearing. Works quite well and is fairly cheap compared to square rail. Hope this helps