Loose Emco PC Mill 30 X-axis

[oxford]

Recently bought a used mill and discovered a loose x-axis while doing maintenance.

The Y and Z axis are tight and show no play.

In the pictures, I tried to show the play in the axis. The looseness is back and forth around the x-axis ball screw.

The first picture is where the z-axis mounts.

The second picture is of the offending loose part.

Is it possible to fix this problem with new rollers, or am I looking at a tough fix.

Thanks

[oxford]

Would better pictures be of use?

[The Blight]

Pictures from different angles (and better ones) might help some. You might also be able to find a manual on this mill. Looks like you should be able to find a screw somewhere that you can tighten down to reduce play.

If there are screws holding the rollers in place, maybe you can tighten them down a bit. This way the rollers will be moved closer to the carriage and the slop will be reduced. The ideal sollution would be to use bigger rollers.

[oxford]

I'll get some better pictures later today.

I like the bigger roller idea. Any suggestions as to where to purchase?

Thanks

[oxford]

The rollers have a rim diameter of 20.02mm.

Roller diameter within groove is 17.94mm

Inner diameter of 9.93mm.

8.52mm width.

...Looking for rollers slightly larger now:P

[The Blight]

Thanks for the pictures.

Hmm.. You might get away with putting shims under the rollers (either the top or the bottom ones should do. You might also get away with just shimming one of them). This is really not a good sollution, because there will be less contact between the roller and the rail. The shimmed roller will only have contact on the inner lip (don't know what else to call it).

How are the pins holding the rollers locked in place?

[oxford]

They are held in place by friction.

[The Blight]

So a press fit. That makes it much harder. The only fix that I can see is to make bigger rollers. But you already know that.

[oxford]

I spent too long looking for larger rollers online.

I ended up going with your shimming idea.

I took two thin pieces of metal and shimmed each of the loose rollers.

Works fine now

Thanks