Ill do my best to describe the issue I am having with the rails on the CNCRP PRO machine.
When unboxing the rails I noticed they were bowed and twisted. I thought that after installing them in the vcon linear motion clamps onto the table base it would fix the issue. Unfortunately that has not happened. I also noticed that at least one side, sometimes two, and on one rail three sides of the rail had dents or rust damage. I unfortunately did not realize this tell after I had installed the rails and was rolling a carriage down the axis and felt the bumps, so I had to remove than reinstall a few of the rails. Something to watch out for on your build, look each rail over closely and pick the best of the four sides to use for the rolling surface.
I installed the rails per the tips and tricks of the cncrp website, I am confident that the rails are seated properly in the clamps.
I noticed the issue when my carriage would not roll smoothly down the entire length of the track. When the carriage rolled smooth all the wheels made good contact on both sides of the rails. When I started feeling resistance I could see one of the wheels loose contact with one side of the rail and just press tightly against the other side. This indicated the rail was bowed out, and was probably the reason for the resistance.
I have checked with a laser level and a machinist level, the rail is very level.
In the video I have very lightly clamped a level (just for a reference straight edge) to the vcon rail. I placed a bright light behind the level and rail to see how straight the rail is. I saw gaps of .02" using a feeler gage in two spots, and these were the spots I was feeling the resistance. Most other portions of the rail were within .002". The video is not fancy but helps show my issue with the rail.
In this picture I was checking to see if the van clams were level vertically, I checked under the level with a .002" feeler gage and the level was contacting each clamp.
Attachment 238040
checking the rail level with a laser
Attachment 238042Attachment 238044
Finally checking the rails horizontal alignment.
Attachment 238046
The level is butted up to the inside of the vcon clamps. They seemed very close on most all the claps with the exception of the clamp that is closest to the .02" deflection. It was just slightly off.
Anyhow- Something I did notice - when the gantry is installed the resistance was minimized to some extent. The extra weight of everything changes how the resistance felt, and things seemed to roll more smoothly. You could still feel a little bit of resistance in the one spot and the wheel would still loose contact with one side of the rail.
Thoughts Solutions? Any Help would be extremely appreciated. Is this even an issue?
Thanks You