man i suck (nuts)

I was drilling by hand a hole in my y axis ballscrew for an x3. i was going to then tapp the screw and screw in a washer to this to help me from loosing balls from the ballnuts in any accident (thanks to crevice reamer for the idea :) )

so i was hand drilling, 3/16" working up, then boom it snagged and ZIP the ballscrew shot in and i lost exactly 15 balls.

So i have come here making a thread to ask for what to do next.
first, how hard is it to put them back? anybody have a link to the process?
1) put back the 15 that came out somehow
2) take all the balls out and put then in bag. then cloth up and clamp the ballscrew into my drill press vice and drill and tap the hole properly then put the balls back in
3) take all the balls out and put then in bag. then cloth up and clamp the ballscrew into my drill press vice and drill and tap the hole properly, but i believe these are .125" balls or so, buying some oversized balls on ebay and loading them myself.

What would you guys do?

Thanks guys! :)

oh the irony... i lost my balls in an attempt to save them. (nuts)

btw according to my most accurate digital caliper the ball i grabbed has a diameter of .1236

been there done that.. i spilled a bunch of the balls out of one of mine when i first got them, it wasnt too hard to put them back. the little return shoot on my ball nuts comes off and splits into 2 parts, so all i had to do was stick all the balls back in, and put the return back on.. it took me a few tries, but going slow, i was able to get it done...

I have had a similar problem. Here is a link I thought was very good at illustrating how to reload the balls. Hope it helps.

YouTube - 34: Nook Ballnut loading

LOL! Didn't you have any duct tape?

Here's some reading:

http://www.precisionballs.com/Ball_Screw_Repair.html

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=80990

CR.

Use a cable tie around the screw on both sides of the nut when working on it.

It depends on what type of nut you have, but most are quite easy to fix. Good luck.

I remember that video, or one just like it from when i dropped mine and had to put it together.. its actually pretty good instructions, i just wish the video was less jumpy/jerky, and more in focus...

Another good hint--anything you're working with something with lots of small or bouncy parts, put a towel or shop rag underneath. If something falls out, it won't go far.

very true.. i like terrycloth towls for things that like to roll around, like ball bearings...

wow all thanks for the great responses :) does not seem to be a big deal at all. I counted 80 balls total from the thompson (thomson?) ball nuts... time to see if that's all of them and maybe order some oversized balls. thanks again!

wow all thanks for the great responses :) does not seem to be a big deal at all. I counted 80 balls total from the thompson (thomson?) ball nuts... time to see if that's all of them and maybe order some oversized balls. thanks again!

The deluxe kit should already HAVE over sized balls. Check with Michael about this and number of balls. He might also have some good replacement suggestions. He MIGHT even swap your pile of parts for a new ball nut.

There's some good info in this link about using Vasilene and NEVER magnets to place the balls:

http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23191

CR.

Teyber, just send us an email on what you would like to do as far as getting more or over sized balls.

cheers,
Michael

hey! i sent you an email yesterday, ill re-send it on my moms email account.
i feel like this conversion is taking me to long so id like to avoid another delay if possible (nuts) i was more curious if you could tell me HOW many balls are in the #4 kit's ball nuts to make sure i have collected them all.

thanks a million man!