New (to me) Joe's 2006 R2 rebuild questions

[atwooddon]

Several months ago I purchased a Joe's 2006 R2 from a fellow near me. He had assembled it hoping to etch/cut glass but had no success. When I inspected the machine, I knew there were several things wrong, mostly with the way it had been put together. All the components were fine, just assembled wrong and not a lot of attention to detail. I finally had a chance to take it apart and get ready to paint it prior to re-assembling it correctly.

Now that I have it apart, I am looking for suggestions for upgrades or fixes I should or could make during reassembly. I also have a couple ideas I would like to bounce off the 'experts'.

First, the pipes/rails originally used are pretty rough. The coating on the pipe is flaking off where the bearings ride. Should I go ahead and remove the black coating and either repaint with a smoother paint or sand/polish the pipe with a good coat of wax to stop rust? Or, is there a better solution to use for the rails? Update, found the answer in the Joes 2006 mods and upgrades thread..... thx

Second. Now that I have it apart, I was considering lengthening the bearing rails to give the machine more 'foot print' to have better leverage to prevent flexing. It would be pretty easy to do while the machine is apart. I know I would sacrifice some cutting area if I extend the bearing rails but it seems it would strengthen the machine.

Third. The white HDPE where the X axis rails get adjusted seems like some of the bolts have stripped out. I will need to replace the stripped pieces. Should I substitute something stronger?

Fourth. The machine is using standard single start Acme screws for X and Y axis. On the X axis, there is some whipping of the lead screw at higher speeds. Looks like the Acme thread is not too straight. Can it be straightened or should I just upgrade to 2 start Acme threads now?

Fifth. The original owner did not put the top and bottom covers on the table torque box. I plan on leaving a couple bays open in the table when I cover it to allow some openings to allow vertical mounting of material to allow dovetail type cutting. Any issues with that?



Thanks for any ideas on upgrades/fixes and suggestions on my questions.

Don