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Where to find smooth rods for DIY UM2?

Posted by harmaasilmä 
Where to find smooth rods for DIY UM2?
August 14, 2016 09:28AM
So, I'm looking for smooth rods for my DIY Ultimaker 2 and I have two problems: how good quality do I need and where to find them. I will need 1pc D6mm x 320mm(X), 1pc D6mm x 300mm(Y), 2pcs D8mm x 337mm(X), 2pcs D8mm x 348mm(Y), and 2pcs D12mm x 339mm(Z) rods.

-First the material: I think the best option would be stainless steel but those are harder to find. Then there are those hardened steel/chromium plated rods - will they be reliable enough? Will rust be an issue with those?
-Then there are also the tolerances - what quality would be enough? RepRap Wiki says they should be h6 tolerance and that sounds reasonable to me, but again, they are not easy to find. I found this shop which sells stainless steel rods with h9 tolerance and chromium plated steel rods with h7 tolerance. Are those usable or is the backlash too big? (I know smaller the better but...)
-Lastly, from where should I buy the rods (if my suggestion won't work)? Any recommendations? I would prefer Europe but they are hard to find here with a reasonable price. Ebay/Aliexpress (China) is an option too as they are quite cheap there but I'm not so sure about the quality even before the shipping let alone after it... Also there will probably some extra taxes if I order from China. Any experiences?

I would really appreciate any help/suggestion/recommendations for the smooth rods. smiling smiley
Re: Where to find smooth rods for DIY UM2?
August 14, 2016 02:12PM
I purchased all my rods from Aliexpress and have never had problems, most of the vendors will cut to size and you can read the reviews to select the best vendor.
Re: Where to find smooth rods for DIY UM2?
August 15, 2016 02:41PM
Ok, thanks, I'll keep Ali as one option... But really, has only one person ever bought smooth rods? Maybe everyone else has just scavenged (stolen) them from somewhere...or maybe the seller just was so bad that it can not be recommended... grinning smiley Please post any tips/recommendations if you have - smooth rods are important parts and probably many people would like to know where to get good quality and hopefully with a nice price. smiling smiley
Re: Where to find smooth rods for DIY UM2?
August 16, 2016 12:55AM
I buy most of my stuff from Dold Mechatronik I haven't had a bad experience yet. Their cuts are always very accurate, and nothing is bent. They're in germany and the shipping costs are usually not insanely high, even if your country isn't in the EU.

They have the diameters you need in h6 and lots of other usefull stuff.

Oh and on the topic of rust: these rods i linked aren't made from stainless steel, but if you keep them oiled or something, it probably won't be an issue. At least none of my 2+ year old non-stainless rods have rust on them.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2016 12:38PM by Ramon3D.
Re: Where to find smooth rods for DIY UM2?
August 18, 2016 01:05PM
Thanks Ramon! That seems like a great shop! I will probably buy some things from there. It's a bit hard to find good shops but I actually managed to find a few from my country and one of them sells quality smooth rods with a very nice price. Unfortunately their delivery costs are quite high (more than the rods themselves) so I might have to buy from Dold anyway, unless I or someone else can go pick the rods up from their warehouse...
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