[dinkyguitar]

Hi All,

I'm building my z axis and have 4 of these bearings:



But I don't know hold to start drilling the holes for these so they line up with my plans.

My z axis will have a plate that slides on the rails similar to beamerweb's here:



Mine won't have that extra aluminum spacer, but still, since I can't see the mounting holes, how do I mark start?

dinky,

[harryn]

You mark them up using the drawing info and hope that you did it right.

[louieatienza]

Hopefully you have a CAD of your plate design? You can get the CAD for the bearing blocks from the seller or manufacturer.

If you notice beamerweb's plate has scribe lines, you can mark your plate as such using a combination square and scribe, then use a center punch to mark the intersections for drilling, which will help keep the drill bit online. You should use some sort of lubricant when drilling aluminum or you'll full your HSS bits pretty fast.

Also beamerweb uses flat head socket screws. I don't know the tolerances of the included angle on hte head, but you'll need a countersink to do that. And if your hole is slightly inaccurate you wont have a way to adjust it out. The heads may not be 100% concentric. You might want to consider getting a counterbore and using SHCS, this way you can shift things around a little if need be.

[Walky]

There you go, L*W for block size, C*B for hole spacing. Be sure to make an extra hole at the center if your blocks have an adjustment screw at the top (some blocks have only one, and others have both at the top and the side).

Don't mind the SBRXXLUU, those are the long, double bearing versions.

You can make a 1:1 scale drawing, print it, tape it to the plate and punch the holes to mark their location. If you have trouble making one, tell me the block spacing and I can do it for you. You can use slightly oversized holes (e.g. 7mm) to have room for error and adjustment, once the four mounting screws are in place the block won't move. Also check the length of the M6 screws beforehand, too long and they won't hold the block, too short and they might strip the blocks' threads.

[dinkyguitar]

Thanks everyone,

I was thinnking about creating a drawing and using that as a template to mark my holes. I've used visio in the past which helped a lot....I just wasn't sure if that's how you "pro's" do it since I'm a newbie at this.

Special thanks to Walky, for putting the time to help a fellow cnc guy....


Well, it's time to do some drawings...


dinky,

[rowbare]

Make a drawing, drill the holes into a piece or hardwood or an extra bit of aluminum. Confirm they are properly spaced by bolting it to the guides, then you can use that as a drill guide for the real parts.

bob

[keebler303]

Get some layout fluid, an adjustable square, a scribe, maybe some cheap calipers, a center punch and a hammer. Should get you within .01" or so. Plenty close for a drilled clearance hole.

Matt