vertical ballbearing rail

trend

Hello again [noparse]:)[/noparse]

Got a fabrication question·for you'll this time...

I have been using a rail (like out of a server case) for attaching an object
that needs to go up and down ~40 inches (I had to weld 2 of the rails
together and do some magic..) the object attaches to a chain and then a
sprocket at each end then a motor at the top.······ I used the rail out of a
server because I need a very low profile rail

Basically, I think this is a crappy execution of what I had in
mind(basically because of the weld.. and the object on the rail will snag
sometimes)...

So I am trying to find a very low profile rail that is ~35-40 inches long.
I found some on mcmaster carr, but they are pretty expensive..
Do you'll have any other suggestions on places that I could purchase this
from? (granted I might need to keep ordering more and more.. so it cannot be
a single auction on ebay[noparse]:)[/noparse]..

what I found on mcmaster carr was:
http://www.mcmaster.com/
look up item
6004K11

bottom 2 sections

any help would be great, because I honestly feel that these prices are very
inflatted.

thanks!
Lee

allanlane5

Hmm, sorry to rain on your parade, but $100 to $300 for this does not seem really 'expensive' for what you get. These are rails, with integral ball-bearings, which need to take some load. Thus they must be machined to relatively close tolerances -- thus the cost.

DaveG

I noticed that the description in McMaster-Carr says the 6004K11 unit is not rated for vertical mounting. However it still
may be okay for a lightly loaded system.

BTW, you will be hard pressed to find an easier or quicker source than McMaster-Carr. They are a fine supplier.

Dave G

trend

Yeah, they have everything.. but the items in the past I wanted from them, I always found them a lot cheaper elsewhere.. So I was just hoping for the same here..

The thing is, these products from mcmaster are very high quality and have a high load capacity.. I don't really need a high capacity at all.. So I was hoping there was other solutions out there.

I had just hoped someone had experience with finding cheaper rails.

thanks for you'lls input!

Lee

Dave Paton

You might try surfing eBay. I've gotten a lot of ball bearing drawer slides that are in the 30-40" range for pretty cheap. You could also build something with some aluminium C channel. I've done both with great success.

-dave

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.

trend

Can you explain building a rail with aluminum C channel? where do you get the c channel? and how do you make the actual main rail?

thanks! Lee

Larry

google "hobby cnc". It'll keep you busy for a couple days.
Look at the pictures on this site :

www.crankorgan.com/

Larry

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔

Dave Paton

Basically, you use a pair of small pieces of C channel to capture a piece of plate Aluminium. The tricky part is making sure the C-rail stays straight and true on both sides. I did one once where I used another piece of large c-rail to hold the two smaller ones in alignment, and that worked pretty well. There are lots of options. I'll see if I can make up a drawing this week, but no promises.

-dave

▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
This is not a sig. This is a duck. Quack.