Solidoodle stock rods not useable with linear bearings (Page 1 of 3)

I'm using the stock ones and yes they were stupid hard to put on but after I forced them around a little the slide pretty good.  But I still want to upgrade them to smoother ones

The 6mm ABEC-5 bearings I acquired were exactly the same size (within 0.00005" anyway) as the 6mm rod in our SD3.  Which means they did not slide onto the shaft without some lubrication and significant persuasion from (as my Brit friends say) a "drift of suitable size."

Is there a wiki page with rod lengths for the SD3?  Looking to replace mine as well with Lawsy's mods and having a heck of a time finding it.

Thanks!

I measured mine, and the "Y" rods are 14", while the "X" (carriage) rods are 13".  The 6mm interconnecting rod is 14.125".

BTW, I ended up buying hardened chrome rods, which all around (except for the "Z" rods).

Where did you end up sourcing your rods?  I see Amazon has a couple but not all

Thank you!

I got mine from fleaBay.  The 13" 8mm rods I already had, but I couldn't find any 14" rods so I bought some that are almost 20" long (500mm), and I'll cut them down to size when I get them.  Here is the link for 8mm rods. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330983574297?ss … 1423.l2649

That's 6 rods, 8mm x 500mm, hard chromed.  This is probably the bang for the buck, as long as you are willing to cut them down to length, which is a very simple job, provided you have a Dremel tool.

As for the 6mm, I'm putting a pillow block on it to reduce flex, so the 6mm bearings wouldn't fit.  I found a set here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-6mm-Shaft-3 … 27d4f05620

or here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/480mm-Long-6mm- … 1e7ff3d9de

They too will have to be cut down slightly.

I got the McMaster Hardened shafts for another project. I can say that they work much better with the same LM8UU bearings than the stock rods.

Wow thanks for the tip on this one, they are literally the next town over from me... all of a 5min drive.

-Mike

Buy a cheap hacksaw it will work fine.

Ditto, was also wondering how to cut it

my bearings also sucked on the stock rods.  I bought a 6' precision hardened shaft from McMaster and cut it down by spinning it in a drill and simultaneously cutting into it with a dremel cutting wheel.  New shafts are like butter compared to stock.

I haven't asked what they charge, but I've seen several waterjet cutting places in the yellow pages around here, that might be another way to get them cut if there is a waterjet place near your location.