This is the holy grail of home made CNC !
I have been trying to source a slide I seen when visiting a company that manufacturer robotic type machines for production lines.
It was identical in appearance to a linear ball type slide, but the bearing surface was plastic, they run on round bar from 5/16" upwards.
All the machines I seen were using 5/8" and 3/4" sizes, the bearing unit fits into a block of aluminium like other types and is held in by circlips on each end.
The guy told me these machines run 24hrs a day and they last as long as ball bearing types, but at about 1/4 of the price. |