Anyone know of any good (local) sources for linear rods/bearings?

[NickW]

I'm frustrated with crappy linear bearings and rods.  I bought a couple dozen more cheapies from china to run on my delta (aligned so they don't run in the ruts from the old bearings).

I found a lot of them run pretty rough, and the "smooth" ones, are probably only running smooth because they're sloppy loose.  My printer is running again, but they rattle and buzz at certain positions on the rods due to harmonics in the motion.

I want to buy some good quality hardened rods and bearings to build a smaller, more portable delta.  I don't mind if they're expensive, I just want something that's going to last.
Does anyone know of any local sources with bearings from known manufacturers?

-Nick

[Ashley Webster]

RotoPrecision sells high quality rods - ask for case hardened. They shipped to me in a week. But they don't sell bearings. RobotDigg is popular among builders in the G+ community. They are not local but I received my order in less than a week from China. If you want top of the line (for top dollar), there's a local sales rep for PBC Linear.

David Archambault

Regional Sales Manager – Western Canada

Cooper-Grainger Canada Inc.

Technical Bearing Sales Ltd.

Local Tel: 604 868 9883

Toll Free: 866 612 4291

dav...@cgctbs.com

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Mr. Ashley Webster

3DPrintVancouver.com

(604) 862-3940

[NickW]

Thanks,
I fired him an email.  We'll see what he comes back with.

I think I'll be avoiding the chinese bearings like on robotdigg.  I'm not saying they're bad ones, but after wrecking >$100 of rods with the bearings from VXB I'm hesitant to risk it again.

I'm also curious if anyone here has tried plain (non-ball) bearings on a delta or other high-speed linear use?  I was already looking at PBC's bearings this morning before you mentioned them, and thought they might be a good way to go if the friction isn't too high.

-Nick

[Daniel Friesen]

When I tried contacting RotoPrecision before they directed me to two of their distributors, Wajax and B&B Bearings.

~Daniel Friesen (Dantman, Nadir-Seen-Fire) [http://danielfriesen.name/]

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d604/CA%2BK_9S8ceUKgJedXJ5iLZt%2B49%3DOwqoxLanjG0FmLLMAU55EODQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Stefan Mohr]

I ordered hardened rods from Folger (http://folger-technologies-llc.myshopify.com/), but the cost after shipping and import was too high. They are great, though.

I recently found out you can also buy them from Metal Supermarkets (http://metalsupermarkets.com/). A colleague went for other reasons and called me to say they stock 8mm hardened smooth rods for around $8 for a 500mm length. This was at their Burnaby/Lake City location, but they probably stock it in their Richmond and Langley stores too.

[Nick Wimpney]

Oh.  that's good to know.  I live within biking distance of the Burnaby one.  I'm probably going to go a bit bigger than 8mm on this printer, but I could check with them and see what they have.

[Dan Steele]

I've heard really good things about these guys http://www.vxb.com/ not local but they have a pretty good website.

I just order mine off EBay

Dan.

[Nick Wimpney]

I bought the original bearings and rods from vxb.com

The rods look good, at least visually, but the bearings seemed like $.50 ebay junk at 5x the price.  They destroyed the rods in a few months.  I'm not sure if the plating on the rods is poor quality too, or if the bearings are 100% at fault.

They may have some good quality stuff as well.  There's certainly a wide range of prices, but the bearings I got there are definitely trash.  The rods I expect would be good enough if paired with decent bearings.

-Nick