Magnetic ball joints experiences / sources

Hi,

I've read the the magnetic joints article of the reprap page and see that there's a lot of variety. Im now at a stage where I would like to upgrade my traxxas joints so I wanted to ask for some of your experiences.

The industrial magnetic ball and socket joints seem to expensive to be feasible and so I think steel balls with a screw (-hole) and a little round magnet in the rodend seem cheaper. The magnets are easy to find but the balls not. Any proven sources where to get those?

Cheers.

P.S. If someone wants to join me in buying an alibaba order, that could be beneficial.
[www.alibaba.com]

Quote
sungod3k
Hi,

I've read the the magnetic joints article of the reprap page and see that there's a lot of variety. Im now at a stage where I would like to upgrade my traxxas joints so I wanted to ask for some of your experiences.

The industrial magnetic ball and socket joints seem to expensive to be feasible and so I think steel balls with a screw (-hole) and a little round magnet in the rodend seem cheaper. The magnets are easy to find but the balls not. Any proven sources where to get those?

Cheers.

P.S. If someone wants to join me in buying an alibaba order, that could be beneficial.
[www.alibaba.com]

Why don't you check out Andy Cherry PI Thread He has moved away from magnets and instead mounts drilled balls on the rods and then uses a spring and cord arrangement from the effector and the Carriages to keep it in tension and it works superbly well.

The drilled balls can be had from ebay in the UK for like £8 for 50 then Alloy tube from the hardware store (B&Q) for about £3 a meter and then some M4 grubscrews and away you go (You could also use Carbon Fibre tube if you wish).

This of course all depends where you are in the world?

Doug