[billyinks]

Well it didn't take me long to abandon drawer slides for my first build and, after suffering from sticker shock for linear bearings, I came up with this. Picked up some 1/2"x3/4" al angle, 5/16" hardware, 1 1/4" metal closet rod and some 3" sched 40 PVC at Lowes. I clearanced the angle and attached skate bearings. I took an 8" long piece of the PVC and arranged the bearing assemblies 120deg apart, 3 at each end. . I knew it was going to be a tight fit (hence the clearancing of the angle), but it was still a little too snug (notice the chipped paint on the closet rod) so I cut a slit lengthwise in the PVC. This provided a 'spring fit' to the rod, and if the weight of the gantry overcomes the spring tension, I thought of using a hose clamp around the pvc for additional tension. In hindsight, the painted rod was a poor choice. They also carries a chrome rod in the same size for a few bucks more, I'll use that if this idea works out.

Please excuse the poor pic quality, photography is not my strong suit! Any constructive criticism on this idea? I'm still working on a rigid means of attaching it to the gantry.

Thanks in advance!
Billy in KS

[thekm]

that is some spiffy work. Because it's fully enclosing, you could probably do the same with square bar. The hose clamp could go on just as a measure, or, zip ties. The zip tie set I have at the house has a tensioner that gets them wicked tight.

[thekm]

...thinking about it more, I love this idea. I think you could section the pipe more and get even more options for other parts of the machine like Z axis, etc

[billyinks]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm kicking around a slight deviation of this idea for the y and z axis, but I'm pretty happy with this for the x axis. I'm starting small, with about a 36" x axis, so sag/deflection should be minimal. Still working on a solid means of attaching the pvc to the gantry...

[Kipper]

Looks like fun!