Threadless ballscrew for Y axis

Ive looked for bits about these on here and there is a German discussion, but my German is rusty So....


I have a love for these threadless ballscrews, righty or wrongly.

they look so cool. So i printed some thinking to use for the z axis but then my Y axis started to play up so thought Id set one up for the Y.

Job done

Seems to be doing a good job, however, after only a few test prints and bits and pieces. A weekends worth of trial. the rod seems to have slacked off and I cant decide if its the rod wearing or the bearings moving.

the rod I got from B&Q so I think is only Drawn steel. was this the wrong type to get?? should it be hardened.

Myk

No experience with them but the word on the street is that you need a hardened shaft. The hardened bearing race will slowly deform anything softer than it.

I love them too, they're quite the novelty.

I've had one in hand many years ago.
I was running it back and forth on I think drill rod or really clean SS rod, it would jitter.
I kept trying to adjust it but gave up.
You need a harden and ground steel rod.
You want to also make sure that there are no burrs or nicks on the perimeter of the bearing, discard the bearing if you find any thing wrong with it.

It's possible that your housing has also deflected due to creep (stretched).
So you might need to implement a maintenance routine.

thanks for the replies

wheres the best place to get hardened ground rods. looked on ebay but they are dowels on there