Joinning linear rail

[Claude Boudreau]

It is my intention to enlarge my homemade cnc router by joinning 2 linear rails together . Beside the obvious alignement and tight join is there anyone who tried this and could give me some pointer . (Thk sr25) Any comment welcome.

[stevewebster]

Hi I've just joined two rails on my x axis from a pair of THK GL20 slides last week. I ground the ends of the meeting rails square and carefully aligned the ends of the rails.The rails are mounted on 3/16" thick 3 by 4 rectangular steel tube.There is no bump in the movement of my carriage so give it a try. Worked for me.

[millman52]

The linear rail people say "NO". But spliced rail has worked for me on a gantry for over a year now of almost daily usage. My vote is to go for it.

[Claude Boudreau]

Thanks for sharing your experiences, I figured that linear bearings are long enough for a smooth transition between rail, as it is a serie of bearings the bearing crossing the gap is actually floating avoiding a bump. I`m going for it.
The difference in price makes it worth a try . Long rails are a long way from cheap!

[zephyr9900]

millman52, it is far from unknown to butt linear rails so you and stevewebster are in good company.

THK: http://www.thk.com/archive_file/tech...n/A056-057.pdf

Thomson (now part of Danaher): page 127-129 of http://www.danahermotion.com/website..._Rail_LRes.pdf

Hiwin: page 10 of http://www.automation4less.com/pdfs/hiwinguideway.pdf

Randy