Lost my balls!!!

Thanks for that.
Ideally I'd like to try a drop in replacement; but if I can't find a suitable one then I might be in touch :)

The ball screw is 7.80mm OD, 2.54 pitch.

Cheers,
Dan

are you sure the pitch is right, they're normally metric. My guess would be 2.5mm.

I'll double check tonight; I measured ~2.5mm over 1 thread so I measued 5 threads over the fine groove on the OD.
12.80mm over 5 threads.

You don't know of anywhere that would sell drop in replacements would you? (apart from Boxford at this point)

Ta,
Dan

you can get the larger ballnuts, but not the smaller ones. Saying that boxfords price isn't too bad.

OK, replacement ball screw and ball nut for the x-axis is £204.95 inc VAT + delivery.
Does anyone have a cheaper drop in solution? Or am I gonna have ta sell my shoes to buy this replacment part?

I couldn't find a suitable sized replacement on MotionControlProducts. :cry:

Cant you just remake the recirculation tube? as far as I know it only feeds the balls back to the start, any preload is normally provided by the ball size, I would have thougth a small length of brass or copper pipe that you can get from model shops would be at least worth a go before you shell out all that money :o)

I have a similar looking one at at home but I'm not sure its 2.5mm pitch. I'll have a look when I get home.

you could replace the whole thing with an aftermarket ballscrew, but you'd end up with a flanged ballnut. Not a real problem but you'd loose a bit of travel.