[zephyr9900]

Triangle is a good place, bought some really cheap ballscrews there, but don't tell anyone...

How do you begin to evaluate the condition of all the random ballscrews strewn on the dusty shelves?!? When I've been there they've been "proud" enough of their wares it makes eBay look like a reasonable place to buy stuff... I wouldn't mind buying ballscrews there if I had some way of knowing what I was getting...

Randy

[ckm]

How do you begin to evaluate the condition of all the random ballscrews strewn on the dusty shelves?!? When I've been there they've been "proud" enough of their wares it makes eBay look like a reasonable place to buy stuff... I wouldn't mind buying ballscrews there if I had some way of knowing what I was getting...

I try to find ones that are 'complete', with the nut still on there. It's usually pretty easy to see if there is wear and humans have a resolution of around 0.001", so you can usually tell if there is play.

I think I paid around $40 for a 20" x 1/2" 5tpi THX ballscrew. You can bargain with Mohamed and it helps to look poor. I noticed that when I drove my Jag down there the prices were 20-40% higher, so now I take the Focus...

I also bought a complete X-Y setup that was cast iron, with roughly 35x25 travel, THX linear rails and ballscrews, with servos and limit/home switches for $500.

HTH,

Chris.

[N4NV]

At Triangle, it is really hit and miss. You have to know what you are willing to pay for something before you ask him the price. If he is higher than your price, counter with your price. The other day I wanted a 5 hp motor. It was beat up and missing the cover on the junction box. I had checked and a new 5 hp inverter rated was less than $300. He wanted $125 for his motor, which I thought was worth about $50. I did not get the motor.

He had a big CNC knee mill there. The original price was $7,500. Every few months I would ask him the price and it would be a little lower. After a year it was down to $3,500. I offered him $1,000 for it and much to my shock he took it, but I had to get it out of there that day. I had no place to put it and no way to move it. After two hours I had it all figured out and on a truck. After a lot of cleaning and only one bearing replacement, the mill has less than .0006 backlash on any axis and can now rapid at 450 ipm.

I had one other good deal there. He had 5 servo motors (without encoders). The bearings in most of them were shot. I took down the data plate information, went home and looked it up on the internet. I found the motors were 60V, 1200 rpm, perfect for one of my projects. He wanted $100 per motor and I ended up getting them for $50 per motor. I replace all the bearings, brushes, added encoders and turned the armatures. I later found they sold new for $2,000 each.

On the whole, I decline his price and don't buy something most of the time. But deals can be had.

Vince