"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:48:39 -0500, RoyJ
wrote:

I've got an 'Acupath mill' ( Taiwanese import mill vintage 80's) with a
trashed X axis ball screw. The move crew took it apart to get it in the
room, the results was the little balls all over the inside of the knee.
I think I have a way to fix it.

I need to find a stray ball somewhere in the nooks and crannies of the
machine so I can order some new balls. McMaster has a huge selection of
inch and metric balls, usually run about $.10 each, need perhaps 150 of
them so $15 or $20 would cover it. This site shows how a ball screw nut
is threaded on a ball screw:
http://www.nookindustries.com/ball/B....cfm#BallArbor
If the arbor was a chunk of aluminum in the proper size, had a suitable
groove cut in one end, one should be able to populate the ball screw nut
by holding the grooved end up and dropping them in one by one. Once it's
full, transfer to a tube with a sharp edge, screw it on to the screw.

Wadda ya think?


Roy, I think you ought to send it off to a ball screw rebuilder and
let them refill the ballscrew. They will check it and used the proper
sized balls, putting it as good as new..or damned close.

And its not all that expensive

Gunner

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional,
illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an
unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the
proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean
end.

www.rockfordballscrew.com

This place has VERY fast turn-around or very good prices on repair. Even the
standard turn-around is pretty fast.

I have used them several times...first one was a 1 1/2" dia. 72" long...I
dropped it off after work sorta on my way home...next day, they call to tell
me it was done...at 11:00am. AND they had their driver going out anyway,
he'd drop it off...machine was back online by close of the first
shift...total lost time 36 hrs...cost...$500.us

Cheap at twice the price.

Mike