I’m looking for some good linear guide rails. I plan to build a CoreXY-table for a simple laser cutter and thought I could use some Hiwin style linear rails. Guess 15-size should be enough.
Does anyone have a good source for some cost effective ones? Don’t look for the cheapest but for a good price/quality balance.
Thanks!
Knockoffs are hit or miss. I’ve heard some people have good results by replacing the bearings with better balls.
http://misumiusa.com have been a good source for me.
ebay. Even nice THK linear ways are pretty inexpensive used, and they don’t wear much. I will note that it’s tempting to buy a bunch of carriages thinking you can then buy the rails later, but they’re actually less expensive if you buy them together (I found out.) Also note that in most brands, if the rail is less than about 1cm across the carriages won’t retain the ball bearings if you run it off the end, whereas in larger ones the carriages retain them.
New Hiwin rails are not crazy expensive actually, even if they if they are more expensive than knockoffs, but I have used them for some builds. Used THK as suggested above is another good option.
It seems there’s two common heights to 15mm rails. I suggest the shorter for your use. The taller ones are pretty heavy and probably overkill for laser, the cars are heavy and the type tends to have some preload that adds to drag.
Thanks guys for your Feedback. I thought about going with Misumi already but hadn’t looked at the price yet as I thought they were much more costly. Turns out the price is quite good. The big downside on China linear rails seems to be that the quality is so different between different suppliers and no one wants to tell you were some reliable ones are. Robotdigg has some newer made ones which they say are more reliable than the other chinese ones but I’ve also already been disappointed with their quality on other stuff so not sure what it’s worth.
Regarding size I think the 12-size ones should be good too for my application. The rails will be heavily supported everywhere and the MGN12 should be good to drive a laser diode head.
I think I’ll use the cad files from Misumi at first and do some planning. Currently what it looks like the Misumi 12mm ones should be around 150€ all together. I would be at around $100 with the Robotdigg ones but still have to worry about import fees and shipping. And then the quality risk isn’t at all worth it. Shipping at Misumi should be cheaper as they have a European outlet.
I’m kind of surprised that Openbuilds stuff is still quite hard to get here in Europe. Only a view common shops have some combinations but mostly no stock and only one specialised shop in France carries the whole set but as far as I see doesn’t do custom cuts. Would have been a great Alternative for a Laser.
Thanks, @Jo_Miller will have a closer look at them. Didn’t find any shipping cost info on the site and they seem to have given up on Twitter. But @RAT_RIG_Hardware looks promising.
