Lead screw or ball screw upgrade ?

[John1125]

Hello,

I just got a PM30mv and it had quite a bit of backlash so I went to snug up the split lead screw nut and of course the threads were pulled from the factory . I took the table all apart and drilled and tapped the 2 lead screw nuts. The screw is not what I would call precision machining or the nut for that matter . Functional but pretty rough .

Is there an upgraded version of lead or ball screw that I could go with ? I probably would still go with the handwheels and the X axis power feed for now . The Z head would be nice to have power on at some point .

Does anybody change out the screws and still go with manual or is it not worth it?

Thanks ,

Kirk

 

[Cadillac]

Replacing the leadscrew with ball screws can be a issue if using the machine primarily manually. Ballscrews will move or drift in a cut. You would have to always lock axis to make rigid. If using the machine for manual machining I’d stick with leadscrews. Who knows the condition or alignment when built so that could have been reason for failing so quickly.

 

[JimDawson]

If I were doing this I would use ball screws. I find that just placing my hand on the hand wheel that I am not turning is enough to keep it from moving when operating manually. I have ball screws and I don't have locks on my axes.

 

[Mitch Alsup]

Doubleboost has a video where he changes his 6*26 knee mill into ball screws (alt least on the long axis).

 

[bretthl]

Hello,

I just got a PM30mv and it had quite a bit of backlash so I went to snug up the split lead screw nut and of course the threads were pulled from the factory . I took the table all apart and drilled and tapped the 2 lead screw nuts. The screw is not what I would call precision machining or the nut for that matter . Functional but pretty rough .

Is there an upgraded version of lead or ball screw that I could go with ? I probably would still go with the handwheels and the X axis power feed for now . The Z head would be nice to have power on at some point .

Does anybody change out the screws and still go with manual or is it not worth it?

Thanks ,

Kirk

That's disappointing hear. You should get with PM and get replacement screws and nuts. I would not put up with that for the price of that machine.