[CNC] Another Backlash Problem

[JimDawson]

I was making a servo motor mount today and found a bit of a problem with my machine.

Cutting pressure was minimal, 0.250 end mill, 0.025 finish pass, 0.60 DOC with a spiral lead in, 0.750 mild steel. This is acceptable for this particular part, but I need to cut some bearing pockets for the same project and I'm going to have to bore those because those have to be right.


It has always interpolated circles about 0.001 out of round but this time it's really bad, about 0.008 out of round. So time to do some checking.

I noted about 0.010 backlash in the X axis so I'm starting there. First time I have noted any backlash in the X axis, the Y axis has had known 0.004 backlash for some time, but the computer was compensating for that, pretty much.

First check the end play in the lead screw. Put an indicator on the end of the ball screw to check the end play.


With the table locked, I was able to get a max of 0.005 end play. But this was by putting much more load on the ball screw than would ever be on it in normal operation. I noted about 0.0003 end play with the table unlocked.

I set up my little USB camera (the small indicator base in the picture above) so I could watch the DRO and the dial indicator at the same time. I have a camera function built into the CNC program. Here is a screen shot.


The bearing on the left side is just a support bearing and floats in the housing. The thrust bearing, back to back angular contact bearings, is on the right end of the table.


The nut in the center of the handwheel sets the preload on the thrust bearing, I tightened it a bit and got the loaded backlash down to about 0.004, better but not good enough. So tomorrow I'll go into the housing and see what I can do about setting the preload. I'm guessing a shim behind the bearing set will do it.


I put an indicator on the case to look at the loaded deflection and at max load it was only about 0.001 about 8 inches from the bearing, so that is acceptable.


But, removing the endplay in the ball screw is not going to solve the whole problem. There is still about 0.010 backlash in the ball screw. As it turns out the ball screws are single nut (I think, not totally sure) so not adjustable for wear, so I have a few choices. 1) install larger balls and hand fit the preload, you can buy balls in 0.0001 increments, 2) add a second nut, which I may do in any case, 3) sent the ball screws out for rebuild, and 4) last but not least, buy new ball screws and nuts.

I have some time to think about this, I can't tear the mill down until I get the current project out the door so it will be a couple of weeks before I can get to this. And I'll just have to bore any precision holes, the linear positioning for bolt patterns, slotting and profiling is fine and within tolerance due to the inherent backlash comp in my system.

Stay tuned and I'll post the ultimate solution to the problem when I can get to it.

 

[Richard King 2]

Have you adjusted the gibs on your machine?
I would guess that the Y axis has some wear in it too. Depending on the brand of the ball screw / nut some nuts have adjustments. They are a 2 piece nut with a small ratchet on it and you can loosen the ratchet stop and turn the other nut out a little.

This will help some but if the screw itself is worn in the middle it will bind on the ends. Adding new balls so it will track higher on the ball screw would help if the screw and nut are OEM and the BS it self isn't worn to much. I would suggest you clean the machine up before dismantling anything. If you have never opened up a ball nut I would suggest you do it in a cleaner room and put a white terry towel on a table. Be prepared for dozens of small ball bearings to fall out. If you don't use the towel the balls will fall on the floor and you will never find them. Some ball screws have different size balls, so be sure to watch or record the order they come out.

Today you can buy new ball screws on Ebay, so you may want to just buy the kit with both screws. Thanks for showing us the project
Time is money and if you have a lot of work to do you may want to replace the BS's . If your slow then go for it. Rich

 

[TomS]

I'm going to watch this thread closely. I've been chasing backlash on my mill for quite some time and after much trial and error got it down to .001" in X and Y. My problem is I had to back off the gibs to the point where the table sags quite a bit at the extents of the X travel.

 

[JimDawson]

Richard- I have not adjusted the gibs for some time. I'll check into the table play today. The Y axis BS has always been a bit loose (about 0.004) but this X axis thing is new. Yes, the machine needs a bath. And it will get cleaned up before I tear it down, I need to pull it out anyway to get the X BS out.

I'll profile the ball screws before I make a final decision on the best way to proceed. If I see quite a bit of wear in the center I'll either send them out for regrind & rebuild or just buy new ones. I've repacked a few ball screws and have lost a few bearings. The good news is that ball bearings are cheap. If I buy new I will definitely go with double nuts.

I can't tell if these are double nuts, but the housing doesn't seem long enough to suggest that they are double. I can't find any documentation on this machine so I won't really know until I get into it deeper. The machine is a 4V manufactured by Topwell, but it was retrofit by Eagle in the USA, and Eagle is no longer in business. Eagle imported and did a number of Anilam CNC conversions in the mid 80's. I think this machine is an 89, not sure if Topwell supplied the machine with ball screws. The ball screws are Hiwin, and I have a part number from the nut, but that number doesn't cross with any current number.

Tom- Chasing that last 0.001 will drive you nuts. But having the gibs that loose doesn't seem right. If you've tightened up the thrust bearings, the problem may be ''spring'' in the system. Or you just have some slack in the ball nut and maybe oversize bearings would be the answer. https://bearingballstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=391

 

[JimDawson]

A little update, I added a 0.005 shim to the X axis thrust bearing and got rid of most of the end play, now down to about 0.002 max under locked table conditions. Almost not readable under normal conditions and I can feel a little preload on it now. It improved the overall backlash a bit. So I'm going to say that is taken care of. But it still doesn't fix the backlash in the ball screw.

There is almost no detectable end play in the Y axis.

 

[TomS]

Tom- Chasing that last 0.001 will drive you nuts. But having the gibs that loose doesn't seem right. If you've tightened up the thrust bearings, the problem may be ''spring'' in the system. Or you just have some slack in the ball nut and maybe oversize bearings would be the answer.

I've checked my ball screw bearings mounts and there is no detectable movement. My ball screws and double nuts are asian imports. I suspect they are the source of my backlash. Snugging up the gibs increases load on the ball screw/ball nut and my backlash increases. Not complaining as I was fully aware when I purchased them that they were not top quality. And thanks for the link for oversize balls. That may be an option.

 

[JimDawson]

My ball screws and double nuts are asian imports. I suspect they are the source of my backlash.

If you have double nuts than all you have to do is adjust them until you get the proper amount of preload to eliminate any backlash in that area.

 

[TomS]

If you have double nuts than all you have to do is adjust them until you get the proper amount of preload to eliminate any backlash in that area.

True. They have a shim between the two nuts. All I need to do is figure out how to disassemble them so I can adjust them.

 

[JimDawson]

The next time you decide to tear into your machine take a picture of the ball nuts and post it. There are a few different types so the way you attack the problem depends on what you have. On Alloy's Shizuoka we worked a little magic on the X ball nuts to make them easily adjustable, they were the shim type also and nothing we did would adjust them correctly. But we removed the shims and added 4 grub screws to the securing flange, this allowed us to adjust to the correct preload.

You can just see 3 of the four grub screws a the 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions. Sorry, this is the only picture that I have of the ball screw, we didn't get any when it was on the bench.

 

[TomS]

The next time you decide to tear into your machine take a picture of the ball nuts and post it. There are a few different types so the way you attack the problem depends on what you have. On Alloy's Shizuoka we worked a little magic on the X ball nuts to make them easily adjustable, they were the shim type also and nothing we did would adjust them correctly. But we removed the shims and added 4 grub screws to the securing flange, this allowed us to adjust to the correct preload.

You can just see 3 of the four grub screws a the 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions. Sorry, this is the only picture that I have of the ball screw, we didn't get any when it was on the bench.
View attachment 274169

My apologies for hijacking your thread. Say the word and I'll start my own thread. Here is a picture of my X and Y double ball nut. The shim is between the two nuts and underneath the tie bar. It looks like the two nuts can be separated by removing the tie bar then unscrewing one of the nuts.