Turning down acme thread rods

[mvaughn]

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how I can turn down the ends of acme rod so it will fit the inner diameter of roller blade bearings.

I don't have a lathe and would like to know if there are any diy methods that will produce good enough results.

I like the setup that eric (balsaman) used on his cnc router lead screws.

[buscht]

I had mine turned by a machine shop, but since yours are already turned you might want to consider just getting the appropriate bearings. I bought some from Ebay. There is a guy there that sells almost every size you could want for a very reasonable price.
T

[mvaughn]

Mine aren't turned yet.. that is just a pic I snagged from another posting.

How much did the machine shop charge you to do yours?

[buscht]

Its a shop that I send alot of parts to from work, so he turned my screws down for free as a favor.

I'd guess that it would cost $50 to $75 total for 3 screws.

T

[Hobbiest]

Chuck it into a drill, hold end with UHMW or wood, spin drill with foot while holding a file to the screw. Takes a long time, but is free! If I get some time this weekend, I'll draw up plans for an idea I've had for just this purpose. Sort of a poor mans lathe. If I'm lucky, I may get the time to build one!

[jstuedle]

Too, too funny. What a picture!

[Hobbiest]

It works...really! Never got the time to try the other idea though. Don't even remember it now!

[cbcnc]

Get some bearings that slide onto the rod. Make a fixture out of mdf that will hold the bearings and the leadscrew horizontally so it will spin in the bearings. Use a drill motor to turn the rod. Then attach the fixture to your CNC machine. Use a grinding wheel in a grinder to turn the ends down in light passes.
Hopefully you aren't tearing your machine apart and can still use it.

Chris

[metlmunchr]

Park your car next to a curb. Jack up either the front or rear, depending on whether its FWD or RWD. Weld end of acme rod to approximate center of wheel. Start engine and put in gear to start wheel and rod spinning. Slowly lower jack until rod grinds against curb. Use foot (with stout shoe attached) to step on rod and feed it into the curb. When finished, drive car to supplier and buy more rods. Drop them off on the way home to a machine shop who can turn them to size and maintain concentric diameters so they don't flop around like an epileptic bullwhip when you install them on your machine.

[RotarySMP]

LMAO!!
Kurt (The Swede) has a write up of the right way to do this here:
http://www.5bears.com/cnc16.htm

Still need a lathe though.