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CNC macro rail

Started Jun 30, 2015 | Discussions thread
CheleA Regular Member • Posts: 269
Re: CNC macro rail

I'm sorry, I can't tell if you are asking for guidance or just stating what the project will be:(

Let's assume it's the former, the one drawback to the round rails is that you will need two. It can get tricky to maintain perfect alignment to avoid binding. Plus you will need two platforms(one to hold the rails and one to hold the camera to the rails) adding weight and bulk. There are square/rectangular rails that are very steady and you can use a single rail by itself without the need for a supporting base. Plus the round rails tend to be higher profiles compared to rectangular ones. One thing to keep in mind is that those things are a bear to machine! ONLY carbide/diamond tipped tools can cut into those things, high speed steel will only scratch the surface! Regardless of which style of rail you pick, they tend to be fairly heavy. BTW, I'm not trying to talk you out of it -- it's just that I used to be a CNC/EDM programmer in a former life and we had to work on those things. We used to get the rods separately from the aluminium bases. The bases were predrilled but not the rods and we used to drill rods up to 12 feet long in diameters from 3/8" to 2". I absolutely hated those suckers!

A square rail sample:

http://sktbearing.en.alibaba.com/product/1394023772-221619562/Taiwan_brand_CNC_linear_motion_guide_linear_guideway_rectangle_wheel_lnear_rail_series.html

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