I'm researching the use of epoxy to aid in leveling a profile guide to a un-machined steel member... but I cant seem to find this available for purchase especially in such large amounts all I find is these little repair tubes.. any links of company's supplying this or eBay links will be much appreciated or any other links/specs? Thanx in advance sorry for spamming this thread...
Here is some research I did a year ago, posted in my build thread.
Here is the scoop on self-leveling epoxy
I have to say up front that I have no relationship with Precision Epoxy. I'm sharing this information I found out so you can easily use them.
I got another call back from Mike Ramy at Precision Epoxy to answer my questions. They have updated the web site to make it clearer about this product.
Their product: SC-15P "Steel Casting Epoxy" is specifically designed for self-leveled beds for linear rails. It has the viscosity, steel-bonding, and toughness we want.
All you have to do is tell them the area to be covered, and they will make up a kit to do the job. That includes a part A can with enough room to hold the part B. You pour in part B, mix with your drill and the supplied mixing blade, and pour. They recommend a 1/4" deep pour.
He said not to skimp on the width of the pour. My beams are 3" wide, and the linear rails rails are about 3/4" wide. He told me not to make the effort to have a smaller width that 3". He doesn't know what the minimum width would be, but more width gives better flow and leveling. He also recommends three temporary bridges 3" wide between my two 5' X beams. This allows cross flow so that the two beams to be leveled with each other. The bridges at the ends would be 6" in from the ends of the X beams. You end up with a glass-like flat surface. No sanding required!
Lead time: They recommend a 2-week lead time. They get busy at times, so it may take a while to get your order in, but they like to call you back and talk to you about exactly what you need (Mike prefers the phone to email).
Support: Mike gives you his cell phone number. You can call him 24/7. That seems pretty impressive to me! I also didn't get any "that's too small a job" attitude. I told him it would be a couple of months before I order, and he was fine with that.
To sum it up, this seems like a no-brainer to me. Exactly the right product, and excellent support.
P.S.
Mike told me about another method you could use if the bottom rail surface isn't perfectly flat (I assume my profile rails will be). You bolt down the rails with a gap using shims/washers perfectly flat using some reference. You have the rail itself coated with Vaseline. You pour epoxy to fill in underneath. You can take the rail up again if you need to. I told him that wouldn't work for me for two reasons: 1. I don't have a reference, 2. The profile rails are not straight. Anyway, I thought I would pass along that method.
Hello, does someone have data about the precision of the epoxy self leveling method for linear guide, for now I can't find any. I would like to compare it to grinding.
Thank you.
Hi Mait - One issue with epoxy beds is that they creep and compress over time (due to the rail bolt preload) as epoxy is quite soft. Machining a metal foundation is far superior to any epoxy foundation and is the commercial std for this component. I'd think that an epoxy bed is the last choice for a foundation. They do not need to be ground, milling them is good enough unless you require very high accuracy. Epoxy has a stiffness of 3-4GPa which is like rubber, steel is 200Gpa and al is 70Gpa. The recommended thickness is 6mm so would you mount your rails on 6mm of rubber? Peter
Precision Epoxy claims a level criteria of 0.001" , although they don't give a length for that. Their steel casting epoxies have a much higher stiffness than just a pure epoxy. Regardless of the stiffness though a 1/4" pour is thin enough that the stiffness has a very minor impact on overall machine deflection. The creep is also very minor at normal room temperatures.
Hi Jag - If the epoxy is pourable, self flattening and ambient curing then its a normal low viscosity epoxy with low activity hardener. It can't be any stiffer then 3-4GPa... To stiffen epoxy you need to add fillers and fillers stop flow...Unfortunately Precision don't publish data sheets. Peter
Thank you peteeng and jaguar36 for the perspective on this subject,(I didn't have a notification and didn't saw your messages earlier sorry).
I didn't see that from this angle.
Hum Hum It appeared a great solution to avoid finding a professional and move a large machine, and also I have saw many times even after miling, once at the final place, the bed did move quite a bit and the steel needed reajustment ....
like here :
re adjusted with a very thin layer of epoxy
or here :
simple subject but I can't make a decision on it crazy. Thank you.
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Epoxy for leveling linear rails
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