I have seen the posts trashing the 8020 bearings also. The UHMW bearings I made are very different from the 8020 manufactured ones. The 8020 system uses removable inserts. The mount I made has the insert profile milled to mate precisely with the rail and the JGRO gantry (or any other gantry). I am cutting plastic parts for an OEM manufacturer with my K2 machine. The UHMW material was on hand so I made these to try to correct the problems I had with the roller bearings on my JGRO. This bearing is much longer than the 8020 bearings I have seen (8.75" easily made longer or shorter).
The UHMW bearing on the JGRO machine is a major improvement, there is far less gantry flex, the rail provides a known reference point of alignment, the UHMW on the rail is very low friction and slides freely. The rail is fully supported so the 1020 rail profile is adequate unlike the pipe that does deflect. The machine has not been reassembled yet, but will be within a few days. I don't expect any operational issues.  |