Here's a couple of pictures of just how much abuse the Oilite
bearing and Thomson shafting combination will tolerate....
Cutting Z axis parts from urethane castings.....
A huge MDF machine that made many-many parts for a few years.
36" x 36" cutting area. Fixed bridge design mainly to see how well it could
work. 6 foot long, 1.5" Thomson precision shafting.
It worked great with 1/2-10 (supported) Acme and 300 oz motors.
Gecko G203V's at 60 VDC.
I replaced it with a different gantry design when I got a deal on
some Hiwin rails. Just to save space really, though. This one worked
fine.....but I wouldn't recommend the huge design.
Oilites have been really reliable and stable...and easily maintained.
Though very rarely necessary.
Cheap too...
John