My new 6040 improvement plan.

[Desertboy]

I have original Hiwin's on my Y axis and the clone rail on my X axis they feel identical to me.

That clone rail I linked to is in Germany so no import tax and only took 3 days for delivery for me although will be slower at the moment of course.

[Desertboy]

At some point it makes more sense just to use it as it for 6 months and then sell it as is and build your own from scratch using the lessons learned along the way.

I bet you'd have no problems selling it for what you paid for it as bad as it might seem it's still better than an xcarve or shapeoko so plenty of potential users out there.

[PaisleyPCdoctor]

I'm looking at the hiwin hgr15, hgr20 and hgr25. Not a massive price difference for 500mm length.

I'm leaning toward the 20 but only because 15 seems small and 25 is possibly overkill.
I would have 2x rails on x-axis. I have never touched one of these so I'm guessing.

Not gonna jump in and buy straight away, just need to decide so I can mock up with correct dimensions.

Any recommendations would be warmly welcomed. Thanks.

[Zeeflyboy]

HGR20 is the common choice - HG15 carriages can be very awkward to grease as there isn't a lot of space to get at the grease nipples.

HGR25 is overkill, but on my new machine I ended up using them on the Y-axis just because the dimensions suited my design.

[Desertboy]

If you're going to fit Hiwin style rails the correct choice is the one that's easiest to retrofit to your existing plates if possible at all.

15mm Hiwin are a PITA to fit with 1605 ballscrew and BK12 fittings you need spacers, I fit my ballscrew sideways on, on my Y axis to solve this problem but still ended up with spacers on the X & Z.

15mm was a no brainer for me, even with the extra hassles but I traded time for my original Hiwin's in the end cost me 12 hours on a Sunday and 6 hours in the week for my 1.2m Hiwin's and 45cm ones on my Z. Was it a good deal? Like my friend tells me my time is worth nothing lol.

[PaisleyPCdoctor]

So you went with 2x15mm hiwin on your x axis?

I was looking at my machine last night and weighing up the options. I think I can potentially leave my ballscrew and 20mm shafts on and ADD a 15mm hiwin, possibly 2 hiwin. Sounds crazy, but actually looks easier.

My main worry with the 15mm rails- spec says the attaching holes on the trucks are M3 threads. Is that right? Seems a lot of force for 4x M3 screws to handle.

[Desertboy]

So you went with 2x15mm hiwin on your x axis?

I was looking at my machine last night and weighing up the options. I think I can potentially leave my ballscrew and 20mm shafts on and ADD a 15mm hiwin, possibly 2 hiwin. Sounds crazy, but actually looks easier.

My main worry with the 15mm rails- spec says the attaching holes on the trucks are M3 threads. Is that right? Seems a lot of force for 4x M3 screws to handle.

They're M4's at least my original Hiwin's and the clone rail I linked to are M4, the carriages are also M4.

My spindle mount actually bolts through the mounting plate and directly into the Hiwin's.

My X is 1.2m original Hiwin's, Y is the 1.5m clone rail I linked to (I only paid £99 but they are still a bargain at £120) & Z is 45cm Hiwin all 15mm

There's 90 T nuts holding the 1.2m and 1.5m to the extrusion with M4's you have no issues the extrusion will fail before the bolts lol.

Stainless steel bolts are not strong, high tensile are much much stronger next time I will use high tensile and they are cheaper to boot.

I've destroyed so many M4 A2 stainless bolts the caps round off so easy.