I think the cost is relative to the goal you are trying to accomplish. The desire for a custom machine capable of everything the legacy has (while keeping the accuracy an fidelity) for a few hundred bucks sounds like the holy grail. The 80/20 P/N 1515 (square t-slot rail) is $0.53/inch and the doubled up 1530 rail is $0.93/inch (a quarter to half the cost of the legacy rail). If you're going to traverse over a 10 or 12 foot span, doing so with a plastic bushing such as what the legacy has, sounds like your asking for pain. I would assume anyone stretching their machine would also invest in an equivalent length of ACME threaded rod. Nook Industries sells linear ball screw nuts for acme threaded rod. They don't report the price on their website but i would expect to pay anywhere from 100-250 for one depending on the precision -which is probably the amount of money you would save in buying the 80/20 rail. Remember this is only the nut, not the screw itself.
Amazon has linear bearings starting at 10 bucks for the back side if there are binding problems. You'd have to check a local metal stock yard for a high polished or nickel plated 4130 cold-rolled steel for the linear bearing to ride on. I have access to a metal scrap yard that has lots of random lengths of stuff like that. All steel (not including stainless) is sold for $0.30/lb this includes acme screws which i have seen there. If you live in utah, the place is called NPS. Those that don't live in utah...this could be costly if you have to go to a yard. Another, cheaper option would be making your own using standard 3/4" or 1" black iron pipe. Remember, this is garage engineering, not industry standard precision. Good call on the 80/20 linear ball bearing kit Tim! That looks like it would probably add another $100 and you would avoid the headaches of trying to make your own (worth it in my option). The kit itself is about 60 for the 15 series 80/20 but I'm sure there would be other parts needed. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Legacy Ornamental Mills" group. To post to this group, send email to legacy-ornamental-mills@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to legacy-ornamental-mills+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/legacy-ornamental-mills?hl=en.
