[MakerBot] How would you straighten a slightly warped threaded rod?

[MakerBlock]

So, um, how would you do this? The warp is pretty small - affecting
my prints by about 0.2-0.3mm. (I'm estimating). The parts I'm
printing come out pretty nice - but up close the regular effect of the
threaded warp is obvious. It's probably most obvious on the corners
of my shiny new TARDIS. http://makerblock.com/2010/01/new-print-tardis/

What would you do/try? Is this the best I can hope for from a warped
rod?

Thanks,

MakerBlock

[aylr]

The easiest thing would be to replace them. Unless you could carefully
put them in a bench-top vise (maybe wrapped in cloth to protect the
threads and *gently* bend them back the right way. I'd venture to
guess this will be a frustrating experience though.

[MakerBlock]

That's what I was afraid of. It means a small regular warpage to the
print, but its really no more than 0.3mm.

Interestingly, the rod in question has very pronounced warp - much
more than a mere 0.3mm. However, I believe the warp is mostly kept in
check by the Z-stage as it is attached to the other three rods. But,
at certain points the warp on the rod is bad enough to force the
entire stage 0.3mm out of whack. This means I probably don't have to
get the rod perfectly straight, just Good Enough so that it's warp
won't shove the entire Z-stage. Thus, it *may* be slightly less
frustrating than I originally thought.

MakerBlock

[Cliff Biffle]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 9:01 AM, MakerBlock <j...@makerblock.com> wrote:
> What would you do/try?  Is this the best I can hope for from a warped
> rod?

I was able to straighten mine (batch 4) by tossing a rag over my jeans
and gently bending them over my thigh. (First, I rolled them on a
flat melamine surface to try to spot the precise axis of curvature.)

It was tedious and greasy. If I hadn't been doing this on various
shafts and axles for years, or if I were smaller, it might have been
downright hard. If you have the money and time, replacing them might
be easier (assuming you get one that's not bent -- mine came bent).

-Cliff L. Biffle

[aylr]

The other thing you might try (that worked OK for me) is as follows.
My threaded rod was bent mostly near one end so I put the bent end
near the top where the extruder is likely not to reach unless you are
printing something seriously tall.

[MakerBlock]

aylr: Actually - I had tried positioning the bent rod with the bent-
ier bits down. That's part of the reason its not as bad as it could
be.
Cliff: That's not a bad idea... Rick quoted me a crazy low price for
threaded rod.
MakerBlock

[Rick Pollack]

Jay - I just quoted you the McMaster price for M8 and offered to cut it...I do a lot of these little projects behind scenes to help out botters...

Rick

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MakerBot Operators" group.
To post to this group, send email to make...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to makerbot+u...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/makerbot?hl=en.

[bre pettis]

Hey,

We QA our rods, but we use inexpensive m8 rod and it seems to me that it doesn't always cooperate in transit.  The good thing is that m8 rod is easily available from McMaster and cuttable with a hacksaw. We made a point of always opting for cheap off the shelf parts when possible with the CupCake so that it's cheap to maintain.

Another solution that I've used on the road is to sand down the slot that the nut fits in so that the nut just lifts it and doesn't jog it. The other 3 rods keep it in place.

Bre

http://brepettis.com
http://makerbot.com