Upgrading Z axis threaded rods

Hello, I'm busy designing a bigger printer around a 30 x 30 cm build platform and I will be using 12 mm drill rod instead of the 8 mm found most RepRaps.

That means the X axis is much heavier. That would cause the threaded rods on the Z axis to wear that much faster. It may not be a huge issue depending on the rate of wear. New threaded rods and nuts are cheap and easy to swap.

Still, I would like to find an upgrade of some kind. Obviously trapazoidal threaded rod is the ultimate choice, but that seems to involve a big leap in cost and availability.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

i have Z axis on my cnc milling machine approx 20 kg, 4-5 years on machine, no problems,

just a lot of pure grapihte grease on it(M12 threaded rod),,,,

That is good to know. I will see how things go with this new heavier printer then.

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

Buying metric rods with solid brass nuts is the way to go. During calibration m8 or whatever ones you chose break down to a better number which helps eliminate banding. Also brass nuts on threaded rod are a lot smoother and wear better especially with a good lithium grease.

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Reprap Squad, have you used that on your machines? If so, how long does a brass nut last in real world use? I imagine it would not wear out the threaded rod as much as a steel nut does.

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Yvan

Singularity Machine

Yes I have and several of my friend's have used brass as well. You can always do brass rod with steel nut also but, the cost is more significant. Im actually changing my Printrbot plus v2 over as I recently added dual direct drive extruders. The carriage weight us higher so those brass nuts come in handy. They do wear better and I've never witnessed any excessive rod wear with that configuration.

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--------------| For Everything |--------------------------
Check it out here:
[reprapsquad.wordpress.com].
---------| For Everything Prototype Related |------
Now featuring comp case mods:
[RepRapLab.wordpress.com]

--------------| Find us at Twitter|------------------------
@REPRAPSQUAD (RS Main)
[mobile.twitter.com]
@REPRAPSQUADHQ (ProtoLab)
[mobile.twitter.com]