Originally Posted by
gjhammer
Hi Ahren,
Thanks for the input. I did consider multi-start ACME lead screws. It seemed that across the board people are split between single and multi start. Though maybe they are dealing with a smaller X-axis than mine. I will look into it some more and may have to switch to a multi-start screw.
Thanks for your input,
Geoff
Ahren is right about the multi-start screws. The extra cost is well worth it. I started with cheap single start Acme screws on my first machine.
The second machine had 5 start Acme screws initially. When Ahren came out with the pinion drive I was worried that the 1/2-10 5 start on the 6' X axis would whip so I bought two pinion drives for the X axis. Later, I bought a pinion drive for the 57" Y axis. The 5 start screws will be re-used to replace the single start screws on my first machine, so they are not wasted money. Then I'll have two very useful machines.
I think the only people who are split about which screws to use are those who haven't built a machine yet. Once they use 5 start screws they won't even consider the single start for another project.
CarveOne
CarveOne
http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com