Z Axis Alternatives

[nick (@nick.charlton 📷)]

I have been looking for a while into alternatives for my belt driven Z axis and now with the release of the Z-Plus I still feel like there may be a cheaper option due to shipping to the UK.

Currently I have been looking at this:

which could easily be upgraded with two extra carriages and a new Z-plate and then mounted to either the existing x carriage on my shapeoko or a custom made one which wouldn’t be too difficult.

However, my main reason for posting this is to ask what people think about the 12mm ball screw rather than a 16mm ball screw like the HDZ has. It seems to me that a slightly smaller ball screw is unlikely to make a difference in performance but I would love to hear what you guys think!

P.S. Does anyone know what “HPV6” might refer to in the title of the listing? I thought it might be the type of ball screw but the one used in the design is a SFU1204.

[nick (@nick.charlton 📷)]

Also, how do people think a 12mm ball screw might compare to the lead screw used on the Z-Plus in terms of performance?

[jwhendy (John Hendy)]

I’m really no expert, but this reminded me of Marco Reps, who did a nice video on ball screws. One thing that stood out to me was to invest more in the bearing blocks. I can’t tell what the HDZ actually uses for this. Anyway, just passing that along in case it’s of interest. He covers some things that might be of interest if you were scoping out cheaper options (note what he says about cheap linear guide blocks, for example).