[ger21]

While building machines using skate bearings and round pipe (gas pipe, EMT...) is cheap and easy, there are some limitations. A major one that I noticed is that you can't get the bearing really tight because the 45° loading puts too much axial load on the bearings, which greatly increases the rolling friction.

I came up with this idea to eliminate that problem. Use a laminated wood rail for stability, and epoxy steel rails to it for the bearings to ride on. If you own a wood planar, it's easy to get two parallel surfaces for the top and bottom bearings. The bottom bearings need to be mounted with an eccentric bushing to be able to keep the assembly tight to the rails. I think the easiest route is to buy the chinese dual V eccentric bushings, and some 3/8" ID bearings for the bottom. VXB has 3/8"ID bearings 10 for $15.

Any thoughts?