Advice on where to get quality rods/shafts for my printer?

I am from the US.

I wanted to replace the smooth rods my printer came with as it was a fairly cheap model and I am worried all of my assembly/disassembly from tweaking and upgrading it could have bent them. Plus, I just wanted higher-specced rods than the cheap ones it came with.

I tried buying them from someone others insisted sold high quality rods on eBay, a US seller, however when I got them they don't seem to work right. Despite my calipers (which I admit aren't high-end) reporting them as both being the same diameter, both my old and new sets of bearings don't work smoothly on them at all, while they work fine on my old rods.

After this, I had many people joke to me about parts made out of "Chinesium" and how they tend to have to order multiple parts to get a working set. After this, I am done with eBay, random 3rd parties on Amazon, AliExpress, etc. I wanted people's opinions on what are actual reliable sellers of good quality rods I can use for my printer. Issue is, I have very little experience with industrial terminology and ordering industrial parts. I tried ordering looking for the rods at McMaster Carr, but the lowest I was able to drill down was to three options ("Corrosion-Resistant Rotary Shafts", "Linear Motion Shafts", and "Corrosion-Resistant Linear Motion Shafts") of which I couldn't tell the difference between and they only seemed to come in specific lengths. I don't have the tools nor the expertise to cut them to length myself.

Can anyone offer any advice on where are some places I can get actual reliable rods for my printer, and what I should be looking for when I order?

[www.vxb.com]

High quality American stuff, price tags arent insane but it is more than china

Quote
DaGameFace
[www.vxb.com]

High quality American stuff, price tags arent insane but it is more than china

They seem to only carry bearings

Nope, they have a bunch of stuff, think you want this:
[www.vxb.com]

Your going to want to know why the rods you bought didn’t work, otherwise you have no idea if the issue is the rod or the bearing, and if a replacement rod is going to work.
Bearings are spec’d for specific clearances, and the diameter difference doesn’t have to be very much i.e much less than 0.1 mm before you will feel a significant difference.
Also if the rod isn’t straight you’ll have bearings bind, it’s easy enough to determine if a rod is straight, roll it on a flat surface holding one end against the surface and watch the other end.

The 8mm rods I use came from VXB, I bought a bunch of them a long time ago, I’d probably buy something cheaper now, you want linear motion shafts not rotary motion, ideally they should be chrome plated, chrome plated rods are incredibly hard to cut without the right tools so buy the right length. If you have to cut them an angle grinder is about the easiest way.

You can also buy drill rod at a push, it’s nothing like as hard, but easily cut and dramatically cheaper.

---

___________________________________________________________________________

My blog [3dprinterhell.blogspot.com]

Quote
Polygonhell
Your going to want to know why the rods you bought didn’t work, otherwise you have no idea if the issue is the rod or the bearing, and if a replacement rod is going to work.

I know it's not the bearings, because neither my old nor new bearings work on the new rods, but they both work fine on the old rods.

I also noticed that they seem to perform better the longer the new rods are, so it definitely seems like something is up with the rods.

Quote

Also if the rod isn’t straight you’ll have bearings bind, it’s easy enough to determine if a rod is straight, roll it on a flat surface holding one end against the surface and watch the other end.

Yes, I tried testing them on both a granite and mirror surface to make sure they were straight before using them.

FolgerTech.com

I can tell you that thier 6mm and 8mm rods and bearings function well together.
Bearings will need a good cleaning first tho, they tend to be full of grit.

5 minutes agitation in mineral spirits cleans them right up.

The chrome rods are very hard indeed, had to use a grinder tool as said previously.

I would also recommend Folgertech, their 16mm rods are strait and within 0.01mm tolerance and everything came well packaged.

I don't know if they will cut the rods for you, but I'm sure a local metal shop could do it quite cheaply.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2018 10:36PM by Alex_1234.

search ebay for optical shaft/rail of the diameter you want, look for rods with nice chamfered ends, dont go too long with 8mm

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2018 10:39PM by MechaBits.