Has anyone incorporated a bellows system onto the linear rails? I would like to do so. My machines need to do their thing without the use of dust collection. Dust collection is the enemy when it comes to what I use my machines for. So I would like to add bellows to reduce the amount of dust that lands an sticks to the sticky linear rails. Has anyone doen this. or can suggest where to get some bellows for this set up?
I haven’t done it, but I did a search for “linear rail bellows for cnc machines” and got a bunch that are made to fit right on those linear rails.
I suspect you will lose some amount of range on the machine though since they will only compress so much. One I looked at on McMasterCarr that would extend 48" will need about 4" of rail when compressed.
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I have a 5x10 table… I was looking at the bellow options on McMaster Carr. Could you tell me which on on their site is the one perfect for our type or rails. I would probably purchase enough for front and back of each y rails and left and rights of each x rails. I was thinking I might have to give up some footage due to folding. can you tell me which one on their site it is i should look at?
The AVID rails are 20mm, so the marked ones should be correct ones.
you will probably have to cut them a little shorter or you will lose even more travel when they are compressed. I have’t used these, so I can’t vouch for how well they stay on the rail when they are stretched out, but I think they have cutouts inside the shape of the rail so they should stay in place.
Another option to consider is to upgrade the bearing blocks to the ones with the extra wipers, or find a place that supplies the wiper kits.
Adding the wipers seems like a good idea- has anyone here done this already? My bearings get gunked up despite following avid’s instructions.
If anyone knows where you can buy the wiper kits seperately please post. I’ve been looking for them and can’t find an active source.
Im at this site. But I dont know which to purchase. I dont know how to understand all the HH ZH SW HSX crap. I would like to try out the self lubricating type and the wipers type as well. What ever will reduce the amount of times i have to swap bearings.
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