Tuning Up Cheap Chinese Linear Bearing
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2018
- Cheap linear bearings to upgrade my 3D printer to the BLV Mod
AND NO! NO WD40 WAS NOT USED ON THE BEARINGS!!!
Replacement bearings
3/32" Inch Chrome Steel Bearing Balls G25
goo.gl/FTEvtH
Linear Guide MGN12H Bearings
www.aliexpress.com/item/12mm-... 
Развлечения
They should send the components disassembled to save on assembly cost
You have a choice...Either "Cosmoline" to protect it from corrosion and rust...Or it starts rusting as it takes three or so weeks to cross the pond and the salt air permeates the shipping container. It's an easy choice. And truthfully, you should always clean your parts and do a good TI before assembly anyway.
Thanks for taking the time to share your findings. This is archive-grade work which will serve many people for years to come. I am collecting information on how to make a better router - the 8x12” I built a year ago was to get my feet wet, and this is the kind of information I need to achieve the results I’m after.
Lots of good information here. Thanks for the thorough explanation and procedures. It really is night and day when you take the time to thoroughly clean these.
One thing that I have noticed works very well with these inexpensive rails is to purchase higher quality ball bearings and swap them out. It's a $5-8 fix that can dramatically tightens up tolerances and spherical geometry.
Thanks for this video. In all my googling for improving Chinese linear rail performance, I've not come accross such a complete video. I'd figured some parts for myself, but tightning the screws on the sweeper AFTER putting the block back on the rail never crossed my mind!
Only original linear rail can make good performance, We assemble well before deliver to our customers. For our customer never mind of the performance of linear rail.
People like you make videos that are very useful and educational. Not like the one who wants cheap stuff but complains of quality problems and makes the content drop the manufacturer. If it has been given lubricant then the liener will not be easily shifted by gravity, it is different because of the inherent lubricant properties.
I dont have any linear rails yet, but when I get them, I'm definitely following your guide. Much appreciated!
Glad you like them!
Remember to not mix carriages between rails and dont take all balls from all cariages at once. It's often happen in cheap guides that balls have diferent sizes depending on tolerance dimention that rail and cariage were made.
i did exactly this and the guide hardly moves. what should i do
Wow! I just bought a Felder Jointer/Planer machine that uses 2 Hiwin Linear rails and blocks; and a number of the balls fell on the floor when I was putting the blocks on the rails. I have spent 2 days trying to find something on this malady. Thank Jesus I found you; and you did a great job of explaining of how to make these work right. So I must purchase some balls and replace them; and of course follow your tips. Thank you so very much kind Sir.
pat dee
did you find your balls?
@@Jono6671 His wife had them.
HiWin must be thrilled to see these guys using their company colours.
Nicely Done. I Enjoyed the Level of Detail & the Explaination of all the "failure modes" / Things that can be wrong with MGN type bearings. Subscribed.
Cleans components, proceeds to file directly over them.
Isn't that how it's done?
I noticed that too! All that work cleaning everything and then using plastic to push old metal filings off the file on to the newly magnetized ball bearings. Brilliant!
Thanks for sharing. My linear rails slide like a dream now
Hiwin rails will have the same kind of drag when you receive them, but they'll wear in and slide easily after running for a bit of time
That wear IN, IS THE FACT THEY ARE ERODING AWAY.
@@aqib2000 keep all part oiled and cover them up may help when not in use may help.
I knew nothing about this subject (linear rails - cleaning linear bearings) before the video, now I know ;)
Very helpful, Thanks ;)
(3D Printer related interest)
Thank you good sir for the wonderful video! Got mine running like a champ now!
Another thing to be careful of is the end of the rail where it was cut in the factory. The cheap ones may have sharp edges at the very end where it was cut, so there might be a slight lip right where the bearings slot into. I put one bearing on my rail before removing any sharp edges or burrs at the end of the rail, and that seems to have put a small nick in one of the bearings so it has a small flat causing a lot of noise. I used a wire brush to smooth the edge of the cut, and the 2nd bearing was just fine.
Thank you for the tip... now I am going to buy linear bearing for my next project :)
This is exactly what I was looking for. Nice concise video.
Thanks! I feel a lot better about going for the cheaper rails now that I know they can work well with a little TLC.
i used rubbing alch and a sonic cleaner to get all the metal grit out of a set of these! it worked pretty well
Is disassembling them necessary for cleaning them? I have a similar set on my printer and I got mine oiled with a basic (non-silicone) oil directly on the rails and I've never had any issues.
You could soak the bearing block assembly in IPA to break up the protectant and then lube.
Very very very well done video. Now I know how a linear bearing is supposed to work and how it is made and how to fix it in case.
I try to avoid using magnets with ball bearings and stuff like that, nothing worse than fuzzy balls after you accidentally magnetize em. Probably not a big deal if you don't produce a lot of steel dust but for me at least, its such a pain
well this is a great point
great video, straight to the point and very informative!
Great info. I just bought some (supposedly) ultra-high quality HIWIN rails (very expensive), and they were binding exactly like you show here right from the factory. Also covered in grease, just like shown. I'm going to rebuild them today.
Maybe you got some counterfit HIWIN Rails, because HIWIN rails are pretty much the best of the best
As I'm learning linear rails recently, it's common that manufactures put transport oil to protect it. It seems a must for users to clean and apply lubricant before using them. No matter it's super high end or cheap ones.
"What do you mean, those can move by their own weight alone?"
*mind -> blown*
Great detailed instructions. I couldn't figure out how to remove the guides so I put the damn thing back together and blasted it with half can of DW40, blasted it with warm air and then applied a bit of 3in1 Silicon lubricant. So far so good. BTW my rails didn't have that extra plastic problem
So the silicone spray is acceptable?
To use - I have using just regular 3 in 1 oil
I used brake cleaner to degrease my hiwin bearing. Also works great.
This is great , i got some super cheap rails on ebay for fun. and they to had nasty shipping grease all over them. but may i suggest instead of using a magnetic tray ( bearing balls can interfere with one another if there magnetized ) lay a towel out on your work bench, this will catch everything without the chance of it rolling away.
10/10 best way to clean your balls.
and rail blocks.
Nice video and interesting comments. Thanks all round.
Thanks this video was really useful, fixed my problem with a set I recently purchased on AliExpress that were a bit crunchy. After cleaning I looked at the bottom of the cleaning solution to find some fine metal particles plus other particles I couldn't identify. I found white spirits did a better cleaning job than alcohol and water.
The factory probably does not clean the MGN12's before they ship them out. They just dunk everything in cosmoline protectant and box them up.
Excellent helped alot other day at work
really nice...now i am not afraid to buy cheap bearings from aliexpress
this is a very useful video, thanks for sharing. I wish this has been around before I put everything together haha
Amazing description! Very curious about the one i ordered!
Really good video, im just about to try this on a china Special linear rail
- thank you
Excellent tutorial . Thanks!
awesome tips,
Thank you for sharing
Many thanks, useful video and most important for me at the time :)
Excellent video well explained thanks ….
Thanks for sharing, looking into getting some 800mm linear guides for my Delta printer. Kind of curious since its been nearly two years. How well are these holding up for you?
The linear rails have held up perfectly. Every few months I'll clean the rails with a terry cloth and reapply the synthetic lubrication.
i saw these on ebay when i was looking for parts for my diy pcb mill. was curious if they were any good. i think many of the mechanical thingstuffs i get from china all come with packing grease that needs to be stripped off and replaced with something more usable as a lubricant.
I didn't thought it wouldn't be that of a difference! Espacially just after cleaning them up. How "good" is the tolerance? 🤔
Many thanx, will do the same procedure, and i hope it will works.
Great job and great guide you are right wd40 should only be used for loosening off stuff and nothing else. you did a very good job on these :)
always good to clean them no matter where they come from not just from china ones, the reason is they add lubrication is because they dont know when it will be sold or where its going to be stored in and for how long period till it gets sold....so it coats it so that in any condition they have them at who ever bought them to sell well if they have them stored with to much humidity then things wont corrode and rust ....but for sure you need to clean any of those you buy from anywhere and add your own lubrication after the cleaning.
interesting
You are absolutely right. Manufactures will put transport oil to them. Even you spend 10x more money on higher end rails, the cleaning and lubrication still need be done by the user themselves.
EDIT: THANKS a lot for this video :)
I just tried to do this on the rails I got. They look exactly the same, but even after two cycles of cleaning, bending the guide wires so they don't press the balls too tightly against the race and de- and regreasing, two of my rails are still quite hard to move. did you have success with every pair of rails you ordered? I feel one of mine has just a little bittoo tight tolerances...
All of the rails I purchased cleaned up and moved without binding. With use the rails should loosen up. Just keep them clean and lubed and watch for any signs of deterioration.
Do this without disassembly:
Soak entire assembly in iso solution, then place in sealed container with silica desiccant beads. Basically my go to process for any Chinese oil coated junk.
My newly purchased rail is hard to move. I guess I should clean it up. Can you give more detailed information? Moreover its brand is HIWIN :(
Even better: use mineral spirit / lighter fluid to dissolve the grease. IPA does not dissolve grease as well and can damage the plastic parts (unlikely though).
Hey that's good tech- i dig it.
Hooyah brother - great instructional.
Brilliant just what I was looking for I’ve ordered 3 heavy duty sets to make a good CNC may I just say another video a guy measured the bearings and they were all very slightly smaller and as quality bearing are minimal cost he recommender replacing them which I’ll do also
Lovely video. Thank you. I just received what may be precisely the same rails. Thing is, I’m not sure the resistance will matter very much. I’d love to see a before and after cleaning print.
The effects of drag will depend on the rest of the machine.
If the drive system has any flex or springiness to it, drag and stickiness will cause distortion and jumping of the axes, as the axis sticks (lagging behind the commanded position) then pulls free (perhaps overshooting).
If the drive system has any lash, the drag will tend to put it against the trailing edge of the lash. For bi-directional motion (e.g. a circle), this may give a combination of worst-case distortion and increased repeatability.
Now consider what happens over time to the bearings and the gummy stuff in the bearings. Is it a good lubricant? Probably not --> more rail wear. It will get pushed out of the way in heavily-used regions and stay in the less-used regions, causing variation in motion across the machine bed.
Thanks for posting this. I was always afraid to look at the linear bearings that came on my 3D printer but after seeing you reassemble yours I'm confident I'd be able to line up and reinsert the balls if I ever need to :).
One observation - the tube of bearing grease that came with my printer is a lot thicker than the oil you're using. It's about the same consistency and stiffness as vaseline. My rails run smooth and are a quieter than the ones you show in the video - could it be that they'd benefit from a thicker lubricant than you're using? I think I hear metal-to-metal contact in your vid (both on the stock and the re-lubed rails). Perhaps the pressure of the balls is breaking through the oil film and making that noise - maybe a thick grease specifically for ball-bearings is a better choice? Sure they run with less resistance with a light oil like you're using - but I believe they'll be noisier and wear out faster. Also, viscous oil adds damping, which helps cancel out vibrations and ringing in the surface of your prints so a thicker oil might improve print quality at high speeds.
LMF5000 superlube?
Really useful thank you.
Excellent video but I was wondering, couldn't you submerge the bearing without disassembly into the alcohol and have it dissolve the gunk? Move it back and forth while submerged for a bit? And could I use acetone in lieu of alcohol? Thanks!
You could use alcohol to clean up the factory protectant. Aceteone might be too aggressive and eat the plastic. Not sure what type of plastic are on the blocks
@@MrDabrudda Thanks, I just got four guides so I'm going to have to prep them soon, looking forward to the upgrade!
I also ordered some cheap rails and I have one question. Are little scratches on top of rail an issue? Sides where guides/balls should roll look good.
Scratches on top of the rail should not be a problem. Any damage in the recess where the ball bearings roll will cause a problem.
@@MrDabrudda I just checked the rails thoroughly and I found this :( drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SBTT6jCYTt11tN3yIoNx-ILRhfORExnv What do you think? I can feel it with my nail going over it... Should I request replacement? Just for reference on the right you see 9mm hole. It's 20mm rail.
Do you think you could just soak the bearings in your solution without disassembling them and still get similar results?
Possibly, if soaked. Hard to get the solution down in all the holes, crevices and between the bearings, and enough circulation to get the goop and any debris out. Note the long tubes full of ball bearings.
Start having to check out the effects of long-term exposure to the solvent on the materials used. Swelling, softening, degradation, cracking / crazing.
very helpful vid, thank you!
Dude this is great
I was so upset , now I know what should I do thank you
wtf is with everyone complaining about using wd40? he used slick50.. slick50 is really good stuff!. people need to start paying attention.. Thanks for this video!
WD40 is some kind of liquid moth ball. It lubricates well.
Like moth ball, it evaporates.
So you can trust it, but not for long.
And if you then want some accuracy in this rails you can change the steelballs into some 2.381 g10 quality balls. they are cheap and absolutly accurate like the hiwin ones! I build myself an mini-mill and my accuracy is about 0.03 mm at aluminium
This kind of thing? www.amazon.com/dp/B015RKOZ7G/
@@originaltrilogy1 yeah for same price, you can get 150 more here: www.ebay.com/i/390642094900?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=390642094900&targetid=543500072822&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9004387&poi=&campaignid=6451719066&mkgroupid=75295811217&rlsatarget=pla-543500072822&abcId=1141086&merchantid=101492061&gclid=CjwKCAjw1_PqBRBIEiwA71rmtcI4vKt9ypeGE6tXRteQxApxm96Er5_H3Lt5En2CxQFFWg_RbjrqjRoCtAEQAvD_BwE
Impressive! What did you build the frame out of?
Which ball size goes into the 20mm bearings?
I was an FC 2010 to 2016 just got into 3d printing this year..
Hi that's great, you know how to revise the end cap for getting smooth movement and saving money on upgrade your 3D printer. 👍
Just cleaned up a few after watching this. Cleaning it is key too!
Mine came with some Cosmoline type protectant which gummed up the bearings from moving freely.
What could cause it to still be binding after you've cleaned and put it back together. I had no gaps of any kind between bearings, almost as if there were too many. Mine tried to pop out more than once while putting it back on the bar. Tip of my exact got magnetized sitting in the little tray and that helped put them back in. It's a fiddly thing for sure.
Make sure you don't have too many bearings in each side. Mine had 33 bearings each side. Also make sure the sweep seals are loose when installing the bearing block onto the rail and then tighten the sweep seals down. And check the bearing path for any damage. It may require some breaking-in to loosen up.
Wicked video. my friend shelled out on Hiwin rails because of all the bad reviews on the cheap Chinese rails
Just for your information. Hiwin is not a Chinese company and produce high precision motion components in Taiwan. Their price just a little cheaper than Japanese made linear components. But I found most of the Chinese made linear motion parts has same looking as Hiwin parts but only 1/2 to 1/3 price of original Hiwin product. I myself bought several linear parts from online store which all name Hiwin, but the differences are very noticeable when I compare them side by side. The one purchase from Hiwin works very smooth and no backlash. And the one with cheaper price runs not smooth at all and you can feel the balls sometimes stuck inside the rack. Also dust found inside the linear racks and grease. I strongly suggest purchase these parts from Hiwin distributors. So you projects will not ruin by these parts.
Very good video thank you
in my HIWIN MGN12 linear rails were total 62 steelballs.
Very helpful.
Very descriptive and useful - thanks!
@3.55 - you're filing plastics parts down in your cleaned parts cup.
I was wondering why you didn't use the magnetic pan/cup with the water/alcohol solution - any specific reason?, the parts ought to stay down there and not easily fall out and dissapear on the floor, and no need to move them around too much - getting (more) finger grease on them when clean, etc.
No specific reason. It was the container I had on hand and was deep enough to submerge the parts.
EgonSorensen 77
Very nice.
Do you think you could use contact cleaner to clean this decently without disassembling?
Possibly. Depends how much factory gung is on the bearings
Very cool video except I use eucalyptus oil to remove the factory residue.
Great mate i like it , have you understand what is the difference between MGN12H and MGN12C ?
The size of the blocks. MGN12H blocks are longer.
THANK YOU!
I have bought 2 extra MGN12H blocks because there comes only 1 with the rail.
When i place them on the rail, they don't even slide a bit. I need some force to move them over the rail. So, i hope i can fix them, else, i have to trash them.
I know its probably too late, but its the wipes that bind your stuff up.
@@girrrrrrr2 Is there a way to alter the wipes for better movement?
@@ronnyverminck2741 Loose up the screw and then tighten it when its on the rail.
Are you still satisfied from those rails on working? Are they performing well on your machine?
Very satisfied with the rails. Far better than the Igus bearings I was using.
@@MrDabrudda thank you very much
did you save any money using this method? or would it be better to buy more expensive bearings that do not require any cleaning?
These Chinese bearings probably cost less than $10, a comparable western produced bearing would easily cost you 3 or 4 times more.
That kinds depends on what you are worth per hour.
100 bucks an hour, just buy the quality rails.
10 bucks an hour, Clean the cheap ones.
You should clean and re-grease any bearings you get, especially the more expensive ones. The manufacturers ship them coated in a rust-preventing grease which isn't going to be the best for them to run with.
For lubrication is great "mobilgrease xph 222".
Not sure if you're still responding to comments on this, but does it make sense to replace the balls in these with ceramic balls? Obviously that puts you with not cheap rails anymore, but theoretically, you should never have to perform any maintenance again right? No lubrication would be the least amount of drag too if that makes any difference.
For the application I would not replace the ball bears. I clean the rails once a year and reapply lubricant.
Replacing with Teflon balls is also a thing, but it has been suggested by Adam Savage on his Tested channel to consider polishing the raceways. And of course this depends on your application. Teflon would be a low rpm type solution, i.e. an R2-D2 neck bearing, that doesn't need to move much.
Thanks OP for sharing this material. I've acquired a cheaply built gemstone faceting machine I'm considering cleaning up and extending the mast bearing on. Might go crazy and run stuff through the ultrasonic cleaner in a bath of carb cleaner 🤪 ...but will probably stick with steel balls, and lube.
I really appreciate the tips, and took notes. I was dreading doing this; thanks to your video, I'm now looking forward to it. Subbed.
No absolutely not. these are hand fitted at the factory with slightly different sized balls, that's why you see numbers like +2 hand scribed on the side, even mixing the balls in the same block could result in binding or stickiness due to mismatched ball sizes.
There's no way to adjust the preload, so ball size is more critical than material. If these get sloppy with wear you can buy oversized balls.
Could you tell me how long this entire process would take per set?
Took me about 30 minutes each but just take whatever time suits to do it carefully.
Couldn’t you soak the whole thing and then lube it without taking it off the rails? You wouldn’t have to worry about losing bearings then. I thought about this as I was putting one of the slides back together and lost a bearing.
I guess you could soak the block in alcohol but it may still have cosmoline protectant in the slots. The factory protectant would be diluted with the cleaning and re-lubricating.
it is a great help
Wow nice solid 3D printer base, is it for sale?
I was replacing the bearings in my Mono X rails and dropped some. I've ordered some replacement bearings but I'm unsure how many are supposed to be in each channel in the stock carriage? Don't want to put too many in or it'll bind. Any help would be appreciated
My slides have 33 bearings on each side.
Where did you find the replacement bearings?
@@genetic187 The link is in the description of the video.
@@MrDabrudda where those for the mono x?
Lovely and smooth, makes you wonder why the chinese fill them with so much junk... I watched a similar video using 'skateboard' (radial) bearings.
Is the rail be itself to be worked on like sanding or else?
I would not sand the rail unless there was physical damage such as a scratch which would affect the block from running smoothly.
A good quality fishing reel oil would work also.
interesting bud thanks for sharing - although I must admit I think I would feel more comfortable spending the extra money on the quality part if buying them individually.
MENTION: the green plastic parts can also be further separated in two parts each and properly cleaned.
+1, absolutely.
Hello sir. I loved the video and did what you did. but I made the mistake of mixing the ball bearings.. now when its assembled. its stuck, very hard to move it up and down. What can I do? the rails actually came super loose. able to slide on its own from 1 end to the other
Clean the rails and ball bearings. Lubricate the rails and bearings and keep moving the slides. Eventually it should loosen up.
If it was moving freely.
Disassemble and reassemble.
But are the rails nice and true? Is there any play on the bearing housing block? Cause thats the problem with cheap rail bearings, they aren’t true no matter how smoothly they move. I would like to see how far off the rails and the block is when it’s moves along the rails.
it's hard to measure unless he has a super flat surface to but them on... I am wondering how DIY guys do check them without having to invest in super expensive gears
@@anoirbentanfous You can feel when there is play. I brought one good set of rails and blocks and then a few chinese blocks, you can feel the difference, no need for anything special to measure it.
@@metalmolisher666 you have special fingers, men! ;-)
A plate of glass can be used to check the straightness of the rails.
@@archer9338 glass isn't very flat use a surface plate if you can afford one, or make a flat surface with the 3 plate method (I believe oxtool has a video about it)
Just found seven on the floor, thought I was only missing SIX !!!!
Wkekekwkekek
You need buy a new blocks
Please what's the series of the bearing block you're cleaning?
MGN12 linear rail bearings
Jeeze, what is wrong with people? I like the video, and the rails he fixed are proven to work. So why the naysayers claim those rails do not work. Talk about Reality Dysfunction that people have.
to justify why the paid for expensive rails
They work, but when you move the carriage block slowly on the rail you can feel some of the bearings will be rough when contacting the rail. I ended up replacing the balls with ones made by Timken.
:starts filing the plastic exactly above the parts he just cleaned for debris ;) anyway thank you for sharing. now i know what to do with my rails and bearings ;)
That's how I roll!
Why don't you use mineral spirits or naphtha? That works VERY VERY well. Relube with a lubricant appropriate for your application.
Be careful when using the water and isopropyl alcohol mixture, it can rust the balls (crappy steel). Happened to me and I had to order new ones to replace the original.
The bearing won't rust they are chromium steel or stainless steel. And the bears are only in the solution for a few minutes at most.
Before doing the cleaning I was not worried about the possibility of rusting because if they were actually chrome or stainless steel it would not happen. It's most likely that the bearings were normal steel with a poor chrome plating. Just a head's up.
@@joeltavares247 wow that really shines some light on what these guys sell to us as 'cheap'