Re: MiniMills&Ballscrew?

On Wednesday 16 January 2002 07:09 am, you wrote:
> I too, had an excellent experience dealing with Rockford. My BP clone
> (First brand, from Taiwan) mill had non (BP) standard ends on the
> leadscrews, mine are metric. It took several days to measure everything
> and prepare drawings and double check ALL dims twice (or three times...)
> and fax the drawings down to Rockford. They then took my dwgs,
> incorporated them into their CAD system and faxed them back for my
> approval.
>
My experience also. They had drawings for the lead screws of my Supermax
which they FAXed for approval. I verified against my measurements, added a
keyway and said do it. And you are right, that drawing with approval is a
contract. When younger I was caught with this. "The drawing is OK but you'll
CNC the airfoil extrusion die from the smoothed points I gave you rather than
the jumble of arcs shown won't you?" "Sure sure no problem."

>The custom ball screws and nuts set me back US$800
> and arrived looking very sexy. I have been extremely impressed with
> their performance.
>
Sounds familiar. The custom (i.e. Supermax retrofit) was a little more than
the off the shelf Bridgeport but well worth it as it fit right in.

> FWIW I asked for quotes from HiWin, Nook and Thomson and none came even
> close to Rockford's price and delivery for rolled ballscrews with custom
> ends.
>
If I remember (which is pushing the envelope) The HiWin rolled were in the
ballpark with Rockford but delivery was several months. The $5k is what you
see for ground screws.

--
Hugh Currin, PE
Mechanical Engineering Technology
Oregon Institute of Technology