I used aluminum tubing on my machine. As you can see in the picture the roller is flattening the tube and wearing it down. There is a lot of metal dust along the track.
Does anyone else have experience using aluminum tubing?
Aluminum does not stand a chance against the hardened steel point load of the bearings…and it is much less rigid that steel conduit.
So it’s a bad idea to use aluminum I guess. The emt conduits here in Canada is 1" inside diameter which comes out at about 1 -1/8" outside. I bought a bunch of it not realizing it was labeled as 1" inside diameter not outside.
I thought about stretching out the parts in meshmixer or fusion 360. I know you hate when people talk about using other sizes, but I already have the tubing and I have to reprint everything because I printed them too fast the first time and they are weak anyway.
1" is the same here, You are looking for 3/4" conduit (ID), that is 23.5mm OD parts kit “C”
If you already have the 1" parts you are looking for 1" OD Stainless Steel Tubing, available around here for $45, should be cheaper up there since that is where we import it from. More details on sizing on the first paragraph of the parts page.
Should actually be cheaper than Aluminum.
I went back to Home Depot with a tape measure after I bought the wrong tubing the first time. The next size smaller, which I believe was 3/4" was too small. I’ll have to check again.
Stainless sounds like the way to go anyway.
https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.34-inch-emt-conduit.1000106375.html
This is what you’re looking for.
So I took my trusty calipers to Home Depot and measured the emt tubing. The one that is labeled 3/4" is actually 0.932" (23.67mm) outside diameter. The one labeled 1" is 1.163" (29.54mm) outside diameter.
Electrical codes are obviously different in Canada. You can’t buy 1" emt.
Ryan, would you consider releasing sizing that would work for Canada?
23.67 is close enough to 23.5 and I bet you will find it is slightly oval so you can rotate fo a good fit.
I bet it is just a heavy zinc coat (galvanizing), that comes off almost immediately with first use.
Mine measure 23.68 to 23.87mm.
Yeah that would probably work. Might be a bit snug, but over time it should break in.