where to buy leadscrews

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where to buy leadscrews

This topic has 20 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 23 October 2015 at 23:56 by bodge.

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22 October 2015 at 15:00 #208853
mick70
Participant
@mick70
where is best place to get leadscrews?

this milling machine kit hasn't got any and we can't find them at club.

also how do i measure correct length?

cheers
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22 October 2015 at 15:00 #17870
mick70
Participant
@mick70
22 October 2015 at 15:18 #208855
Ady1
Participant
@ady1
Even when there were zillions of lathe manufacturers in the UK there weren't actually a lot of places that made leadscrews because of the tight tolerances demanded in their manufacture

So a few places became specialist suppliers, spent the money on the kit needed to make good ones and the rest of the industry bought leadscrews direct from them

In our modern system I would think that China has the critical mass for those sort of places nowadays, to supply their export market with modern lathes

If you want a new one I suggest you trawl the spares sections of lathe suppliers

If you say what you are looking for then some of the guys will probbly have suggestions

i.e. 8tpi by 3/4" by three feet long etc
22 October 2015 at 15:26 #208856
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
A lot of the gear or bearing suppliers will have screws and nuts such as HPC

Buy them a bit longer than the table plus enough to turn down at the ends for bushes and fitting handwheels
22 October 2015 at 15:32 #208857
mick70
Participant
@mick70
i have no definite idea what type i need as got no info with the kit.

will have a look HPC ta.
22 October 2015 at 15:38 #208858
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
As its a fairly small mill 1/2" x 10tpi may be a nicer pitch to work with as one turn of teh handwheel is 0.100" but if you are a metric man then 12×3 or 16×6 Trapizoidal metric could just as easily be fitted at this stage rather than imperial ACME
22 October 2015 at 16:07 #208859
John Rudd
Participant
@johnrudd16576
Posted by JasonB on 22/10/2015 15:38:39:

As its a fairly small mill 1/2" x 10tpi may be a nicer pitch to work with as one turn of teh handwheel is 0.100"

I have a leadscrew whose thread is 1/2" x 20 tpi……

Why not " roll your own "? Good experience in thread cutting…
22 October 2015 at 16:31 #208863
Gray62
Participant
@gray62
Moore International stock a good selection of leadscrews, not the cheapest but they are good quality
22 October 2015 at 16:33 #208864
Bazyle
Participant
@bazyle
Perhaps go for a ball screw (ebay, china) from the start and have stepper traverse even if you don't ever want CNC. Following up on that from the opposite angle a request on a CNC forum might yield a conventional screw from someone who is doing a CNC conversion using ballscrews.
22 October 2015 at 16:50 #208869
Muzzer
Participant
@muzzer
I suspect you may struggle to find old fashioned leadscrews that cost less than your machine is worth. On the other hand, the e-commerce world is almost on fire with every possible form of ballscrew and ball slide you could imagine, driven by the myriad DIY and light industrial CNC machines out there.

If you can accommodate the somewhat larger ballscrew nut itself i your installation (there are lots of Youtube videos showing how to retrofit them into standard machine tools), check out the various ballscrews on offer. They are generally metric, in 16, 20, 25, 32mm diameters with a variety of pitches like 5 and 10mm. Don't just loom at ebay – the best source once you know what you want is AliXpress in my experience. Check this out – they all pretty much stock the same concept and part numbering system.

I could recommend a couple of places that worked for me if you are interested.

Murray
22 October 2015 at 18:02 #208878
mick70
Participant
@mick70
can i fit a ballscrew and still operate with handwheel?

def open to all options and recomendations.
22 October 2015 at 18:10 #208879
MM57
Participant
@mm57
@Muzzer – a couple of recommended places would be good

Ta, Martin
22 October 2015 at 18:17 #208880
John P
Participant
@johnp77052
Looking in "Lathes .uk" the leadscrews used for this Sharp machine
are 10 tpi no diameter is given but is more than likely to be 1/2 inch dia.

If you intend to build to the original specification you may well
have to make them yourself ,this is what i do .
The photos in album "Leadscrew" show one of these screws being
cut to full depth in one pass.

John
22 October 2015 at 19:08 #208882
Roderick Jenkins
Participant
@roderickjenkins93242
On my MkII both X and Y are half inch. Hard to tell, I can have a better look tomorrow, but I think they are ACME. You would at least be able to buy a tap if you made them ACME. I'll put a couple more photos in the album tomorrow as well.

Rod
22 October 2015 at 20:23 #208891
Muzzer
Participant
@muzzer
Difficult to link to previous AliXpress purchases right now as I'm currently somewhere up in the air between Hong Kong and Dubai but I could post something when I get back to Blighty.

The main issue with ballscrew replacements on manual mills seems to be the lack of friction so if you don't nip up the slides a bit, they can creep (turn) under load. I don't imagine that's a massive problem if you are aware of it and apply a bit of common sense.

Look for SFU1204 (12mm dia, 4mm pitch) perhaps? Many of the sites give dimensions for the ballscrew and ballnut. At the prices you are talking on AliXpress, you haven't got much to lose and although it's easy to slag off Chinese suppliers they are probably still better than the original leadscrews were when new. They will often machine the leadscrew length and endings to suit your specific needs for just a few quid extra if you supply the drawing – threads, keyways, shoulders etc.

Murray
22 October 2015 at 20:59 #208899
John Haine
Participant
@johnhaine32865
Zapp Automation or Marchant Dyce.
22 October 2015 at 21:09 #208902
Robbo
Participant
@robbo
1/2" x 10 tpi Acme leadscrews and nuts are available from Kingston Engineering in Hull. http://www.kingston-engineering.co.uk
23 October 2015 at 11:46 #208975
Roderick Jenkins
Participant
@roderickjenkins93242
Couple of pics of the leadscrews:

Y

X

Rod
23 October 2015 at 12:54 #208982
John McNamara
Participant
@johnmcnamara74883
Hi NB

If you lived in Australia I would try the following link

He has Rack and pinions too…..

**LINK**

Pretty inexpensive. He stocks in Australia. No connection but have had good service.

Regards
John
23 October 2015 at 23:31 #209047
John Hinkley
Participant
@johnhinkley26699
Just stumbled across this site. Prices look very reasonable to me.

http://www.automotioncomponents.co.uk

Sorry, don't know how to do the fancy hyperlink thing.

John
23 October 2015 at 23:56 #209049
bodge
Participant
@bodge
Halifax rack and screw cutting co ltd Coronation works Armytage road Brighouse HD6 1QA

google the above, might not be cheap though.

bodge
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