Lost my balls!!!

[danielbriggs]

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

[i2i]

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

[danielbriggs]

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

[i2i]

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

[danielbriggs]

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:

[Ross77]

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.

[i2i]

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.