Ball Screws for Bridgeport Copy

CNC Crew:

I'm almost convinced my mill is close enough to a Bridgeport to
accept a Bridgeport retro-fit kit. It may take some fitting but I
strongly suspect it will be easier than starting with bare ball
screws and nuts.

So, I've found four rolled thread ball screw retrofit kits. Those
being:

Thomson Saginaw .0005 in/ft $3821.30
Nook/PowerTrac .001 in/ft $1665.00
MicroKinetics .003 in/ft $ 975.00
McMaster Carr .003 in/ft $ 743.00

They seem to get more expensive as accuracy increases, ;-).
I was shocked that McMaster Carr has the lowest cost.

Does anyone know of other suppliers I should contact?

Also, I suspect the lead error is quite consistent along any given
screw. If this is the case it wouldn't be too hard to scale
drawings and/or resulting g-code to minimize this. Particularly
if, as suggested in recent posts, calculations can be done right
in the g-code. A few hours measuring should give a very good
idea what these errors are for a particular installation and see
if they are consistent. Does this seem possible? Has anyone
done this?

For nearly all my work .003"/ft would be just fine. However, it
would be nice to get closer when needed, even if it took more
time and thought.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you.

Hugh

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Hugh D. Currin, P.E.
Associate Professor & Chair
Manuf. & Mech. Engineering Technology
Oregon Institute of Technology
Klamath Falls, Oregon USA

currinh@...
541/885-1649
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