Looking for a supplier of 20mm and 25mm hardened and ground shafting

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Hi All

I am in the middle of designing a small Desktop CNC machine and thinking of using round shaft in the design. If it works well I will publish the design. it needs to be the hardened and ground steel as used with linear bearings.

Hopefully a local UK supplier to make it easier for constructors.

Cost is an issue about 3 metres is needed per unit. (in 6 cuts so no worry with transport, maximum length is about 700mm) some 20mm and some 25mm

Cheers
John McNamara

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Hi John,

Try, HTS in Huddersfield 01484 559995.

No connection only a customer.

Brian

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

When I built a quorn grinder many years ago I tried to find hard chrome plated round bar but could not find a supplier willing to sell a small quantity. This may be easier to find these days and would have the advantage of being rust resistant.

Doug

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Hydraulic cylinders, as used on tractors etc. Scrap ones cheapest !, worth trying the specialist repairers.

[maurice bennieParticipant @mauricebennie99556]

Hi John , Scrap photo printers have good steel shafts which the carriage runs on .I do no know if this is of any use ,being 8mm dia 400mm long (the pieces I have).

Maurice

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Just put "Linear Shafting" into Google and you will get plenty of suppliers plus suitable supports and bearings. Such as this

 

J

Edited By JasonB on 03/06/2013 10:35:23

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Might be easier for home builders if you make it with 16mm silver steel which can even be found on ebay (30 quid delivered)

A more seriously beefy machine can always be built with thicker ground bar, if that bar can be sourced by a home builder

If the design is good, short lengths of 16mm bar will make an adequate hobby machine

Edited By Ady1 on 03/06/2013 10:38:09

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Small motorcycle fork legs come to mind. Usually hard chromed and ground to size. Low mileage parts from a breaker might do the job.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Stainless at 20 and 25mm can be found quite easily on the netty

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Automotive shock absorbers are a source of chrome plated steel, you just have to hunt around. Ian S C

[David JuppParticipant @davidjupp51506]

Marchant Dice stock this kind of stuff. They already do (or certainly did) kits for the Rockliffe router. They trade on line and via e-bay. Probably lots of other options out there.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by Hopper on 03/06/2013 10:40:20:

Small motorcycle fork legs come to mind. Usually hard chromed and ground to size. Low mileage parts from a breaker might do the job.

You must have a little motorcycle, he wants 20mm

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Thank you all for responding.

I can source the material in Melbourne OZ from a couple of suppliers fairly inexpensively, I guess it is from Asia but it works well in the router I posted a few weeks back. Although in that case it was the supported kind that comes bolted to an upside down aluminium T section.

I don't want to use that type in the new machine due to the added cost of the bearing blocks, and supported rail does cost considerably more.

The machine is to be a desktop design, not intended for heavy cutting but it should be accurate. But there is not much point in designing something with difficult to source parts hence my question.

A while back actually quite a while I made a machine that used linear bearings running on a unhardened ground shaft. I thought I could get away with it as it was very lightly loaded. At that time there was no Asian revolution and the hardened bar was very expensive. But no go, bad idea. the bar marked badly and It had to replaced with the proper hardened variety.

I learnt my lesson, for this machine hardened and ground they will be.

Cheers
John

Edited By John McNamara on 03/06/2013 16:15:55

[Ex contributorParticipant @mgnbuk]

http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/en/29-precision-round-rail-supports

A range of sizes available here. I have used this company for (other) parts for work & found them to be easy to deal with & quick to deliver.

HTH

Nigel B.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Nigel,

Zapp … Useful reference, thanks.

They even provide a Spec Sheet 

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/06/2013 09:06:53

[WeldsolParticipant @weldsol]

You could try Marchant dice

**LINK**

I have used these in the past and have had good service from them (usual disclaimer)

Paul

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Yes a good link Thank you Nigel.

It confirms the hardened and ground shaft is available at a reasonable cost, I guess there are other suppliers too.

Cheers

John

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

And thank you Weldsol too.

With 2 we have a price auction! Good to see.

Cheers
John

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