homemade v bearings

[dertsap]

my son and i are building him a router using steel tubing , first thing we need are v bearings , since it cost roughly $250 for the last dozen bearings i bought for my machine , i decided to build my own , we used skate bearings from lightly used skates which we picked up at the second hand store for $3/ pair , skate bearings have a bit of play and have a bit of side to side motion , so we pressed 2 bearings per wheel which eliminated any side to side motion , overall it took roughly 1 1/2 hrs to make them


Curt
http://cnctoybox.com/

[magick_man]

they look great, what did you make them on.
i am guessing a lathe.
and if so did you have a lathe tool with the V to cut the groove?

[dertsap]

yep , turned and bored on the lathe , i just used a simple triangular shaped carbide , we put them up on my sons x axis tonite and they work great , they simply ride on square tubing and they ride smoothly and dead solid ,its the same type of thing i did on mine except i bought those bearings . it makes a great economical but highly functional slide assembly ,
I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out and judging by the look on the kids face so is he

[.xXACEXx.]

i was wanting to build my own v-groove bearings too ,but will prolly order them IF i ever get around to starting a router build ,building them sounds even better than others to me because i have access to turning centers and other cnc lathes ,mills at work tho

[dertsap]

one thing that is nice about building them rather than buying is the fact that the v depth can be cut to a more desirable depth , especially since these will ride on square tubing , we've completed the x axis slides and I'm pleased with the results , it slides great and is rock solid , another benefit to making them was the cost , pennies per bearing

[dertsap]

this is how we set them up
not sure if we will stick with the channel , but ive had it so long now i have to find something to do with it

[Khalid]

Wow.. really very nice and sturdy arrangement.. Where is your cute little daughter Curt?... I think she takes no more interest in CNC stuff...
Thanks for sharing the pictures of your built.
Regards

[CarveOne]

Cut it to length and keep using it. You can design a Z axis assembly that uses your homemade v-rollers that ride on the front top and bottom of the channel.

Add some steel 3/4" angle to the top of the upper front edge and the bottom of the lower front edge. The Y axis lead screw can go inside the channel. The y axis lead nut can be mounted to the vertical plate of the Z axis.

Two rollers can be mounted to upper and lower connecting blocks so that they ride vertically on the 3/4" angle rails and move with the Z axis vertical plate.

If you don't want that C channel send it to me.

CarveOne

[dertsap]

thanks Khalid , my daughter just likes to jump in from of the camera , her only interest in cnc is when i make her a princess picture or something like that . the boy on the other hand is like the saying "the nut doesnt fall far from the tree " , so Ive got my eye on him .

angle iron on the y axis is what i figured we would do ,i havent cut the channel because we may be using an alternative drive method

[tajord]

coincidentally i was thinking about this exact same idea yesterday, and was wondering why haven't or if anyone tried it yet, thanks for sharing.

[CarveOne]

Originally Posted by tajord coincidentally i was thinking about this exact same idea yesterday, and was wondering why haven't or if anyone tried it yet, thanks for sharing.

Some of the MDF gantry designs use the aluminum or steel angle for rails but they typically use regular skate bearings at 90 degrees to the flat sides of the angle rail. The V bearing can be used as dertsap is doing for the X axis, just mount the v bearings to the rear of the blocks so that they connect the rail to the Z axis. Pretty simple to do when the angle rails are near the front of the channel as the channel is shown in the photos.

CarveOne

[dertsap]

i used tubing and angle on my setup , his machine will be pretty much a mini version http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showth...=23120&page=12