Ballscrew Machining

[drinu]

Hi all,

I bought two ball screws from China without end machining. Now I realized that the screws may be made of hardened steel. If so, will I be able to machine the ends accoring to my needs??

Thanks in advance.

[drinu]

Also, I bought the rails and after just two weeks I noticed like a rush of rust (patch). Is this normal? I'm not sure if it was there when I received it,

[waltr]

A Carbide lath tool should cut the lead screw steel unless it is real hard.
Try a file on the end of the ball screw. If the file cuts at all then it is easily machined with a Carbide tool. If the file just glides over then you may need to have the ends ground to shape rather than be cut.

Yes, rust is common if the steel is left without oil or grease.
They should have been coated with grease to protect the steel from rusting before they were shipped.
The best you can do now is very carefully sand off the rust using very fine paper and polish the area. Then give it a coat of WD-40 or grease to keep it from rusting again.