Here we go again . . . MK4

[Jonathan]

Are the ballscrew end bearings any good? The cheap ones I've seen, admittedly >2 years ago, all seemed to be quite poorly made as they exhibited end float, unless you fiddle about adding shims or better bearings. Have they improved?

For you ballnut mounts, I hope your spindle is accurately trammed, else the the surface the ballnut flange mounts on may not be perpendicular to the base within sufficient tolerance.

Looking at your design, I'm fairly sure that the weakest point will be the Y-axis. You've compensated for the small bearing spacing causing racking by using two ballscrews, which is good, however the carriage can still twist about the X-axis when a force is applied parallel to Y, due to the vectical compliance of the 20mm rail bearings. Assuming you got medium pre-load bearings (I hope not zero), their vertical stiffness will be about 274N/um. The cutter is central, so if we assume the force is distributed equally upon the Y bearigs, but in opposite directions, you'll get twice that stiffness as the bearings act in pairs (I think), so 548N/um. Bearing spacing looks like 78mm and about 200mm to the tool tip from the bearings in the Z direction. This means that the deflection at the bearings is amplified at the tool tip by a factor of 200/78 = 2.56. The stiffness of the bearings is therefore effectively reduced by the same factor, so 548/2.56=206N/um. Hmm, too be fair that's a fair bit higher that the ballscrew stiffness (I estimate ~50N/um for the two in parallel) so maybe it wont be dominant.

EDIT: Just noticed that's you've put the ballscrews on the ends of the X and Y carriages, not at the center (of stiffness), so the stiffness will be a bit worse.