Rack and Pinion vs Leadscrew?

[eegor]

Hello, I bought Joe's plans last week and downloaded the Super BOM from his website. My next step is to buy one of his kits and up until now I was going to buy the leadscrew kit but thought what is the deal with the Rack and Pinion kit. Can someone just briefly explain what the advantages or dis advantages are. What I am trying to avoid is building the CNC and then 3 months from now saying, "man I should of built the rack and pinion one"

I am mostly going to use it for repetitive cutting of geometric shapes on no bigger than 1/4" paneling. (Of course I may try to do some of the cool stuff I've seen on these forums once in a while!)

[ger21]

2 to 3 times faster speeds. I've never seen anyone wish there machine was slower, but everyone wishes they were faster.

[eegor]

Thanks I started using the search and read some stuff where the Rack and Pinion isn't as precise as a lead screw. Is that the popular consensus?

[ger21]

I think the general consensus is that's it's plenty precise for a router. It seems like more people are using rack and pinion than screws lately. My next machine will be rack and pinion.

[Fatboy]

Originally Posted by ger21 I think the general consensus is that's it's plenty precise for a router. It seems like more people are using rack and pinion than screws lately. My next machine will be rack and pinion.

Me too!!!
If you have the resources go with the R&P.

Fatboy

[spoiledbrat]

Ger,

How accurate do the high-end cnc routers using R & P ring in at? Is it possible to get ballscrew accuracy from a high grade rack/pinion system?

Thanks,

Rob