[GrizHFMinimill] Re: Y Axis Thrust Washers and Locknut

John makes a really good point here that had somehow completely escaped me: you don't even need a lathe to make these washers. Since the diameters aren't at all critical, just drill a hole in any reasonably flat bit of plastic and hack out the OD with shears, file, chisel... whatever. Though PTFE is probably optimum, most any hard plastic with some grease on it should perform well. Thanks John.

The above notwithstanding, my offer still stands. I have a few uncommitted sets left, and can bang out a dozen more in a few minutes. Have several inches of the material left, and am happy to do it.

Email off line for my address to send SASE.

David Clark in Southern Maryland, USA

--- In GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com, SirJohnOfYork <steelchipper@...> wrote:
>
> On 9/6/2011 1:14 PM, Bill Williams wrote:
> >
> > Gerry, David, to answer the original question; the gears in a printer
> > are probably Delrin or something similar in properties. Since a gear
> > needs certain material behavior characteristics that are very like those
> > of a thrust washer you should be able to use them. That is a good
> > idea BTW! Bill in Boulder
> >
> > __._,_._
> I used some 5/8" black round Delrin, also known as Acetal, as per
> explained here <http://www.onlinemetals.com/plasticguide.cfm> and sold
> here
> <http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=6566&step=4&showunits=inches&id=216&top_cat=0>.
> .
>
> Here is an easily made black round acetal thrust washer on my
> mini-mill, positioned perhaps 1/4" in front of the shoulder of the
> leadscrew that it normally slides up against in this picture.:
> http://jzcomputer.com/Stuff/Mini-Mill/AcetalThrustWasher.jpg
>
> Without the thrust washer in place, the shoulder seen just behind the
> black washer above wears directly on the face of this piece, labled as a
> "Retainer, Y-Axis Screw <http://lmscnc.com/1476>" on LMS:
> Retainer, Y-Axis Screw <http://lmscnc.com/1476>
>
> I shamelessly "stole" this idea from David Clark and posted about it
> over on the Mini-Mills <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mini-Mills/>
> group, complete with links to his original posts back on this group,
> where he was offering free thrust washers at that time to anyone who
> wanted them while supplies lasted. Free. Did I mention free? Free is
> good. :-)
>
> In my case I'd impatiently forced the machine to go a bit farther on
> the Y axis than it should have gone in order to complete something I was
> working on. The y-axis leadscrew shown above plowed into the "Y-Axis
> Retainer" with some excessive force, which then made for some rough
> turning afterwards. Smoothing them out (that shoulder on the leadscrew
> shaft and the retainer) with some wet/dry sandpaper, and then adding the
> thrust washer made things operate much better and smoother than it did
> before the problem ever occurred!
>
> I highly recommend that all manual X2 owners utilize David Clark's
> thrust washer idea as per shown above. Cuts down on slack and makes the
> y-axis turn /much/ smoother than before. Simple and quick to do. Mount
> and center a short length of delrin/acetal round bar in the mini-lathe
> (or vertically mount a short length of same in the mill vise and
> carefully locate the center), center drill a center hole sized to just
> fit over the shaft, and then part or otherwise cut off a ~ washer's
> thickness ~ from the end. Clean it up and mount it as shown way up
> above. Reassemble mill hand wheel and such. Done. Smooth hand wheeling
> ahead! :-)
>
> Cheers,
> John Z.
>


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