[CarveOne]

nicanor76

I bought three of the six foot 1/2-10 acme from use-enco when they were on sale for $7 each. All of them were straight, and two of them were reasonably smooth, but one of them was rough at the tops of the thread corners. These are roll formed and are not the precision grade that MSC sells. (MSC has the roll formed rods also) I was able to knock off the rough edges with 400 grit wet/dry sand paper and some cutting oil.

As long as the rods are smooth and straight they should work ok for you if you use anti-backlash nuts. Rough threads will quickly wear out the delrin nuts.

I looked at the MSC online catalog earlier today and the six foot precision 1/2-10 5 start rods are $94 each now. I sure wish I had bought them last year when I ordered the 1/2-10 1 start I have now. To upgrade at this point I have to buy much more expensive rods and four new anti-backlash nuts. I agree with ger21 (if you can afford it) buy the 5 start precision if you think you want to run any kind of speed at all. These rods will only go up in price. If the three foot rods are long enough for you the upgrade price won't be quite so bad.

CarveOne