# UHMW Slides



## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

My experiment with the UHMW slides turned out much better than expected. 

Here are some pics to get the idea. The ¼” thick UHMW I used was left over pieces I had and they will be replaced when my new order arrives on Monday. Some refinements need to be done but that is the final design (I hope).

After doing some testing with the new slides, no way to go back to V-Groove bearings riding on an angle. The slides are MUCH more stable, smooth and above all silent.

The cost is also reduced drastically. A V-Groove bearing is about $12.00 on e-Bay and I needed 16. A piece of UHMW 4”x 24”x 3/8” at Lee Valley is $20.00 and is plenty to do all the slides in my machine and have a good chunk left over.


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## cgosnell (Oct 5, 2009)

I have just joined this forum, but I agree completely with your assessment. To me this material also seems must more resistant to dust, etc... than bearings. I am also concerned with the bearing mounting bolt, shaft, etc... being a source of play or non-rigidity in the setup.

I looks like you have the UHMW riding against aluminum angles. Have you tried UHMW blocks against UHMW guides?


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## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

The aluminum angles are anodized aluminum which provides a very smooth surface. Of course riding on UHMW will be better but it will be more expensive. My experience so far with these slides is great and you are right, dust has no affect on the slides.

I have modified the design as per attached pic which indicates the X axis.


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## makeme (Nov 23, 2010)

That is awesome. I've been trying to find information on replacing vee groove bearings with blocks of UHMW for, like, a week. Apparently it's not a popular option.

I noticed this thread was started back in 2009. How did this design hold up over time? Did it start to get sloppy? Did you ever try to have the UHMW riding on an UHMW guide instead of on the aluminum?

(I'd just PM kolias but I can't since I only just registered on the forum to get info about this design)


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## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

It’s true the UHMW staff is not popular and I don’t know why. Perhaps for a big machine this material may not be suitable since it will provide more friction than a bearing and in addition UHMW is much more expensive than bearings.

My machine is for sale now and I’m building another one bigger and with 2 drives for the Y axis. This time I will use the 16 butcher bearings I had purchased from eBay for my 1st machine since I found a way to modify them and remove all the play they had. I removed the center part of them and installed a 1606-ZZ bearing and it turned out beautiful. I will ride them on a 3/8” steel rod. See attached photos

In general bearings are much less expensive then UHMW, the 1606 cost me $2.00 each but you can get similar bearings for a buck each. If you are interested, ********* they have UHMW bearings but are expensive. The one in the picture below cost me $80.00 and I bought it to experiment with

To answer your question my machine works very well and I’m very happy with my UHMW slides. I would have gone with this design again but the staff is expensive. If I could find a place in my area to buy UHMW blocks you could make a beautiful slide out of blocks but as I said bearings are much less expensive.


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## db1199 (Dec 1, 2010)

i built a rockcliff design using oilite bushungs on ground drill rod. works fine but i have wanted to make something like yours. impressed as i am i think i will now give it a try. i was thinking of using delrin however. nice job.


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