Lead Screw Inquiry

[Kevin Sevcik]

If you're doing something serious with the screw like lifting your robot, get in touch with an applications engineer at Nook Industries. Tell them you're participating in a high school robot competition and what your parameters are and they can help you pick an appropriate lead screw or ball screw they have in stock. We used them for the leadscrew inside our telescoping arm in 2011 and they were extremely helpful.

[JamesCH95]

My limited experience:

-Precision grade lead screws/nuts from McMasters are only slightly more espensive than the junky stuff, worth it IMO.
-Make sure you're not going to exceed the critical rotational speed on your lead screw.

[Joe.Quirk]

Anyone know if the lead screws from Mcmaster are fully threaded? On a related note, does anyone know how, or the best way to make the ends into a regular round shaft to it can be applied to a motor or fit into a bearing?

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Joe.Quirk

Anyone know if the lead screws from Mcmaster are fully threaded? On a related note, does anyone know how, or the best way to make the ends into a regular round shaft to it can be applied to a motor or fit into a bearing?

Yes they are fully threaded. The best way to do the end-prep is on a lathe, obviously. If the screw is hardened and not cutting well, you can temper the end by heating it up to cherry red or orange with a torch and then letting it slowly cool.