Y axis finally grinds to a halt (literally!)

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I have written before about how one of the failings in the A8 Plus are the quality of the bearings and linear rods. I have already had to replace the ones on the X axis, using polymer bearings rather than roller. Well, during some further testing yesterday I started to get huge Y axis layer shifting. On investigation I could see that the Y axis had all but seized. 

A little while ago I'd noticed it was binding a little with the IGUS bearings in place, so I'd changed back to convention LM8UUs to test. This is what happened to the rods


Not the clearest of pictures, perhaps, but you can probably see the striations (gouges would be more accurate) along the length of the rods.

So, I now have new hardened rods and good quality bearings on order and will replace these as soon as they arrive. 

The A8 plus uses rods which seem to be 442mm long. So that's going to mean some fun times cutting down 500mm rods. 


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