Light rust on smooth rods

Hello,

I am about to put my smooth rods on my tantillus, but after inspecting the rods there appears to be what I am assuming is rust on them. Would this be a problem, or should I remove the rust? If so how should I remove rust from O1 steel? If it matters I will be using brass bushings. The rods have been sitting out for awhile due to hotend issues and print quality, but now I got that figured out so I am working on my tantillus : )

I tried sanding with a sponge sander on a test piece of O1 steel, it removes the rust but leaves the steel matted. I don't wont try anything on the actual rods before I get an opinion.

Thank you,

Cameron

Light pitting will not cause problem with bushings, it will help hold the lubricant. If you have silver steel(drill rod) or hardened steel smooth rods and they are going to be hanging around for a while it pays to grease them and wrap then in cling film.

Thank you for the reply. Yeah I wish I knew to put them in some grease, but I didn't know that I was not going to use them for a little while. Anyways I put them on with the rust and every thing seems good but I won't know tell I start jogging the x and y around.

Thank you for the suggestion,

Cameron

It would be best to knock the rust off before assembly, some 0000 steel wool or fine Scotch-Brite will do the job. Clean the rod well and wipe it with some light oil or grease, the common hardware store 3-in-1 oil is good or if you don't have that use some Vaseline (I use a 1:1 mixture of the two for a thinner grease). If the rust is heavy you can make an easier job of it by driving the rod with a hand drill while you scrub. Be sure to wrap a strip of masking tape around the end you're chucking in the drill to prevent marring), and the usual care while operating power tools applies.

Light rust will not be an issue. The action of the bushing sliding along them will end up polishing them to a chrome like finish after a while of use. Also Igus recommends a textured surface on the smooth rods for some of their bushings as it reduces the contact area which reduces friction.

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Yeah I finally got the cable on and have jogging the y axis around and it moving pretty good as is. The only thing is when the axis starts moving there becomes some slack in the cable so its not as responsive. I've followed the instruction, maybe I just need to keep tighting and moving the axis? I can start a new thread if you want on this topic.

Thank you,

Cameron

If you let the loop of the cable slip under the washer is will keep going slack over and over because it does not actually clamp both pieces of cable. You then need to move the whole axis along the cables a little or add a wrap on one of the idler bars. It can also be just that you did not get them very tight when first wrapping them and it will take a few re-tensions to get it right.

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FFF Settings Calculator	Gcode post processors	Geometric Object Deposition Tool Blog
Tantillus.org	Mini Printable Lathe	How NOT to install a Pololu driver