X2 ballscrew covers

the time has come! clogged! sick of pulling apart ballscrews! the number of times i count to 68! (theres 70 balls in every nut and of course you slip at the last second or two...)

leadscrew covers for the x2 after attaching a cncfusion kit... ive thought long and hard about it...


funky sliding plastic spiral things! nah... the y axis just seemed daunting...

hit me today, leather washers :) just pulled, cleaned and reassembled the screws...

packed with grease, and a leather washer punched and slit slightly to scrape the thread clean, and it looks like its working well :)

so.

the y and z are the nasty ones.

the y especially cops it. ive got vinyl shrouds but stuff still gets in there. real nasty when i do steel.

basically...im just going to make two small plates to cover one end of the nut which will be screwed down to the alloy ball mut holders, retaining the washer, and two recessed split clamps to clamp on the large, unthreaded end of the nut, retaining the washer there... nice clean screws from now on :)

anything else is just deviating from KISS...



hate having to sort things out just when setting up to do something more constructive!

Pictures! I have always wondered why we dont use felt washers in a similar arrangement for cleaning and lubing.

i promise, as soon as i pop the holes through the lil bits of plate, ill take pics :)

this will be some time tomorrow?

but!

my clamps have worked perfectly :)

only punch i have is just a lil bit smaller than the ID of the screw...rather tight.

i was contemplating felt but it tends to hold particles rather than wipe them off like leather will do... due to the small hole and slit, the washers tend to really deform to the thread. very stiff, until lubed up a bit. of course, material selections are always open to experimentation ;)

fine. my very old and tired camera phone shall suffice at this late hour... just cause im chuffed with my clamps so far, i gotta show em off :)

Attachment 235276Attachment 235278

the other end isnt as impressive, just 3mm plate with (most of the) holes drilled...

so far nothing looks like its going to interfere, either.


also been meaning to do this to my small lathe...new way wipers. but the clasp nuts would sure benefit from some wiping!

now, why do the ways on the mill seem to "self clean" to a degree, whilst the lathe seems to turn anything in its proximity into grinding paste?