Go on, make a killing....

So I'm perusing the CNC & engineering supplier websites as you do, now I'm a simple northern bloke (who lives in the smoke), and no matter how many algorithms I run through the old 'grey cell' neutrons, my goldfish sized brain just can't compute how a trapezoidal delrin variant nut can retail for £20+ for ONE nut ....

http://www.igus.co.uk/wpck/default.aspx?PageNr=2373 (just an example...all the other sites are similarly priced £25 + VAT for a TR12x3 nut!! .... "Nurse more oxygen please!"))

is there a world shortage of Delrin or something? (have all the Chinese bought it up), or does it take someone with a CNC lathe a few hours to make one? (it needs to be categorised right alongside with "don't buy strawbs at Wimbledon....a prawn sandwich at the Little Chef....or a Delrin nut in the UK)

So, if you find yourself out of work, my recommendation (to keep your kids in Nike Trainers), is to buy a length of Delrin rod back rom the Chinese & start churning them out for a price that hobbyists don't reel at!

Go on a trapezoidal nut for under a tenner - it can be done! (I mean, what the material cost - a quid?) Ok, so I know at this point I'm about to be told I'm naive "Don't you know it takes, blah blah" ....but at the end of the day it's a bit of man made material with a thread in the middle! :whistling:

there seems to be a big gap in the (UK) market for bits & bobs for those who are trying to get into this game as a hobby/experiment vs the big lads who take this seriously & do it for a living or are semi pro (& therefore need industrial strenghth ingredients) .....certainly an opportunity for someone with a bit of experience & time on their hands.

Anyway, I'll get me coat....

Wot diameter and pitch ?

12x3 he said... MD do them for £8.42 tho...

Irving,
hank edited the post, the size wasn't there originally.
The MD ones are in nylon 66, not the best material at all for a nut, might as well use wood.

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("Nurse more oxygen please!"))

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Just don't have a look at the metal ballscrews...you'll need a cardiac arrest charge. :)

If you go for 1/2" acme then Rdg sell a tap for £12 , (whats a degree between friends :tongue:)

What are you cutting with it? I used purly delrin for my mill and although it has no backlash whilst testing, under load cutting Ali it dose appear to move. I should have followed John S's advice and made them much longer so the load is spread out over more teeth

I'm just about to do an order to RDG so if I can find a use for 1/2" acme (need to check the lathe cross feed) I'll order one and make you some delrin nuts. :wink: (Think Ive got some black delrin left over)

To clarify- I already have satisfactory leadscrew & nuts (thanks to Ivan on here) - it wasn't a cry for help (but thanks anyway!) it was an observation as I cruised the various related websites, that there's what I'd consider a decent opportunity for someone to fill some niches for hobbyists - for example why not put a package of the most popular set length trapezoidal screw & delrin nuts together...maybe along with the SK supports and bearings. Once you sell a few the "word of mouth" inertia would have the hobbyists beating on your door. (rather than having them importing from China).

At the minute, even for some things as elementary as the main leadscrew, a newbie has to research/learn/piecetogether the shopping list & then go find out that it's often disparate - ie you get that bit from here, that from there & the other bit from there....& oh, you can't actually use them unless you want to shell out an extra £80 to have the rod ends machined. Just puzzled why nobody does such 'hobbyist priced packages'... (I can't imagine trapezoidal rod costs that much wholesale in long lengths). It seems a little ironic that on a website full of CNC enthusiasts, that nobody with the right equipt is being entrepreneurial & plugging those apparent niches......again, not a gripe, just seems like an obvious opportunity.

i noticed how expensive these nut are but managed to get a tap and made my own cheaper lol

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Originally Posted by Scott

i noticed how expensive these nut are but managed to get a tap and made my own cheaper lol

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That's my point - it's cheaper to buy a trapezoidal tap (expensive as they are), & make your own! (& yes I know a tap can be fashioned out of trapezoidal rod itself, that's not the main point here!). Just puzzled why someone with a tap start hasn't started making them as a sideline at a price more palettable to those coming into the hobby.

Material - 50p?, let's say 15 mins labour (if you're scaled up with a cnc lathe, probably less) - beat everyone else's price by offering for £8.00 (delivered) per nut. That puts someone on an hourly rate of about £30 for making nuts alone.

Even better if that same person has a CNC lathe & can offer machined trapezoidal rod too. I don't know of anywhere on this side of the pond that offers a delrin nut/trapezoidal rod/supports 'package' at a price that doesn't make you want to move right on along to collecting used bus tickets instead.


It's just a passing observation... if I was out of work, I'd be looking at something like this myself as I'm pretty sure there's a market this side of the pond (& I include Europe in that). Ok, so maybe don't quit the day job, but a reasonable (small outlay) way to help keep a crust on the table in these troubled times.

(I'm surprised the Chinese haven't latched onto this ...pay some poor Chinese country guy 30p an hour to knock out a dozen per hour & sell them to the developed world at a a fiver a piece ....kerching)

I used to sell them myself Hank, £5 each: Link

i used to charge the same for ACME 1/2 x what ever it was. Done on a lathe in the round type works well mounted into a block of ali, then the price go's up tho i guess. You need to get them right, to small a hole befor tapping and they start to thread, to big and the nut will wobble.

They sold well on ebay, shipped them all over the world. I was using hand tools so they did take awhile to make, got better once i started doing them on a jig.

Delrin can be used for other things to.

Lee

I do recall - so why did you stop? Have you stopped? (If so, I'm guessing becuase it was a chore making them by hand - presumably a better proposition for someone with a degree of automation ). A fiver per nut is a bargain...and a no brainer for someone contemplating their first CNC build.

It goes to illustrate the point - build it (at the right price) & they will come!**




**Apologies to Kevin Costner (cos he probably reads this forum) ...not quite as catchy as his riff.

Yea just moved into other things, still got some flat bar left in the shop. I will make them again once my new cnc is up and running ;-)