5/8-.200 ballscrew flange

[csrc]

I don't understand why we have to pay $35 for a flange for the cheap ballnuts. I see this come up frequently in the forums. They won't even fit into my small design, therefore, I was forced to buy the 15/16"-16tpi tap. Ok, so now I am going to tap 3 holes and there it sits doing nothing while others thrash around trying to save a buck. This isn't a business proposition and I am sure a rent-a-tap idea won't work, but as a member of this community, I would like to help others take advantage of the cheap ballscrew scenario. I think I could make plain round aluminum flanges with a threaded hole for maybe $10? If I do it in steel, the tap won't last long. The ballnut has to be pinned anyway, so who cares! Mr. Moderator, it's up to you.

[wcarrothers1]

Don't know how much you paid for yours but I'm pretty sure I paid less then 20 bucks for the one I got. The hard part was finding a place that had or could get one. Ended up going to production tool I think. They did have ultra expencive versions then on down to the china one What the question is why the heck do they tap them with that ODD darn thread in the first place.

In any case most of us do it your selfers probably don't mind having a 1 use tool around

Also if you were realy desperate most of the ball nuts are steel or what ever and rather then screwing them to a plate you could simply weld a flange on them (something I considered) which would have been a lot easier then the screw in bracket. if I had to do it over again I'd weld a plate to the flat side of the ball nut and be done with it... Hopefully the heat of the weld would not effect the nut tollerance to much

b/

[csrc]

I would be a tad shy about the welding deal. I would worry about manufacturing oils charring in the runs. This is assuming one was TIG welding on the end of the thread with the body cooled. I have one in my hand, I wouldn't weld it. You could easily weld up a bracket to trap it, though. I had no choice but to buy the tap for my app.

[davereagan]

That's a fine threaded tap. I don't see why you couldn't get hundreds of holes in mild steel with good soluble oil or even better, tap magic.

[LeeWay]

I wound up turning some nuts out of delrin using a mini-lathe. I just used a store bought inside threading tool. It worked great. It was juust a nut to hold the ball nut onto a steel angle bracket. Sort of a flanged nut that screwed on the ball nut and inside the hole in the bracket. I left the outer edge smaller and it kinda acts like a screw wiper. Worked rather well. I made it look bad when I cut the things on the outside to a square, so I could get a wrench on it, but it serves the purpose well enough.
A tap will save you a ton of money over the flanges for sure, but still an investment. If you could deliver three flanges for the cost of one store bought one, I think you might just have a business going.
Even a Chinese tap that size in steel will last quite a while with tapping fluid. I think aluminum would be just as good as far as function, but steel is cheaper. It might work out to where it is the better choice.
If I was going to turn a bunch of these though, I would invest in at least a mini-lathe.

You could also branch out into a spring loaded mount that would capture two nuts and have an adjustment to preload them.

[csrc]

When my machine is done, I'll be too busy having fun-no time for business! I build custom industrial machinery for a living, so I wouldn't hesitate to tap steel.

[LazyMan]

I just got done machining three sets of Flanges. I didnt bother threading it. I bored out a large hole in that fits snug with the major diamerter of the ballnut threads and used two M6 set screws to secure the flange in place. It works great. Ill get some pics up when I have time.

[Dingo745]

If your talking about Nook ballscrew nuts, then when I got mine I just went to my local fastener specialist and ask for some steel nuts to suit.
They had them in stock, screwed on no worries. Nut had enough meat to enable tapping of two 6mm. holes for securing to mount. I then just milled off the excess material for clearance. From memory the nuts were a few bucks each.

[LeeWay]

The ones I bought were Thompson from McMaster Carr.
I did look for the right sized nuts there, but they didn't carry them.
Hmm. Perhaps if someone can find a link to a source of the correct threaded nuts online, It would help everyone with this dilemma.
I considered just using set screws. My gantry weighs quite a bit. Probably 150 pounds. I didn't think I would get anywhere near a high enough holding power with just set screws.
The Delrin isn't as solid as aluminum or steel either and it works fine, so the set screws should preform pretty well by themselves.


I just saw this on Ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/15%2F16-16-Flang...QQcmdZViewItem

[Mike Nash]

Originally Posted by LazyMan I didnt bother threading it.

First post, just joined, and I'm betting you've picked your screen name just for this post!

Originally Posted by LazyMan Ill get some pics up when I have time.

Are you sure you'll ever feel up to it?

[LazyMan]

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[LazyMan]

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