Grinding Teeth...

[9r2a5m70]

Hi, We recently switch out our old PRS style rails (closet door look?) with some Linear Guides. It runs like a dream, or at least it seemed to until it started erroring out constantly. After about 10 hrs of running. Well As I looked at the motors I noticed 2 of them (1 X, and the Y) had little to NO teeth! I checked the tension on all the motors and noticed that the person doing the work had put the motors on so tight all the springs were stretched out. I couldn't push the motor off the track. I always thought the spring tension should be tight enough to still be able to push off the track with a little bit of pressure. We got the 2 new gears in overnight (Thanks Shopbot!) but now he puts them back on with that same tension if not tighter! Is this going to strip out the teeth running it with that much force on the pinion to the rack?

[Brady Watson]

Pinions are typically softer than the racks they ride on, but you can damage your racks if they are not properly tensioned and lubed. Turnbuckle should be 3.5 turns to get proper tension. Racks are relatively cheap to replace.

-B

[9r2a5m70]

Hey Brady thanks for the response, yeah 3.5 was 1/3 less at least then what we had on it. We also have an issue with the dust, we bought Linear guides, according to multiple manufacture's (one was Bosch) this style was the best for heavily dirty environments (besides a roller on a track as before I guess). But as it seems, 2 of the guides already have dust in them... 10hrs of running total I would say.
Should I see about spraying them with Teflon coating? We usually cut HDU, EPS, & MDF / plywood.

Thanks for the help

[Brady Watson]

Ryan,
That's a tough call with foam - as you know everything wants to stick to it! I would try to get something on them, even a light coat. At worst, schedule routine pinion changes to keep your cut quality up.

How's the raised gantry treating you?

-B