Linear Bearing Problem Xc-540

Anytime you remove that type of linear bearing from the rail the ball bearings are going to fall out even on a brand new one that is why they usually ship it to you on a plastic rail and you have to transfer it directly on to the rail. You can find those bearings online but you need to know the exact size. Look for a part number on the old one or try a place like THK they might be able to help you figure out what size it is.

That being said you'll want to closely inspect the rail and make sure its not damaged or worn before putting a brand new bearing on it. Otherwise you'll damage your new bearing.

 

Are you saying you are going to put the ball bearings inside the linear bearing?

I have never done that. I have replaced the whole linear bearing but not on a Roland.

 

Yeah. You can buy the bearing unit for 200 dollars. Do not repack the bearing. The bearings sit in a little plastic bandolier type thing. That's what fails in the units.

I didn't know you could source just the bearings and I bought a 1300 setup from Roland. I could have bought a new rig for about 200 dollars out is Asia.

 

Sorry to hear that.

 

Sounds like a hack needs to be done. Not sure if they would use proprietary bearings, but it is possible. Would have to the unit in my grubby little paws to see what could be done.

 

That linear bearing...

Has anyone found the bearing for sale without the rail?

 

Linear bearing for Roland VP540

Hi, I'm not sure if it's the same bearing but the linear bearing on the VP540 is the THK SSR-15xw. https://tech.thk.com/en/products/thkdlink.php?id=1107

The print head uses dual 56.9mm wide bearings. I got the bearings from Linear Industries www.linearindustries.com/ and ordered two to replace both bearings in the print head even though only one was damaged.

Paid $90 per bearing for them. They take a while to get as it's hard to find anyone stocking them and it's not really an off the shelf part. Linear had to order them from somewhere else but they got it to me in about 5 bus days with overnight shipping. I wish it had been faster but that's the situation.

Replacing them is pretty straight forward although our machine has horribly clogged heads from being down for a week... wish me luck. You remove the dampers and everything in the head carriage, remove the 8 hex bolts to disengage the carriage and then you need to take apart the big rail and slide it out of the left end of the printer so that you can slide the bearings off of the right and put new ones on. This is NOT recommended if you are at all nervous about working on your printer. Start to finish you can do it in an hour if everything goes right.

They say the bearings don't fail but ours started to get gritty and throwing scan motor errors. The balls in the bearing are in a long snake like retainer which had torn and there were literally just loose balls in one of the races of the bearing causing binding. The new bearings were pretty tight when they were installed but although the printer isn't working due to clogged heads normal operation seems pretty smooth at this point. My local tech had no idea that this could happen and it seems pretty rare but hopefully if this happens to anyone this will help. If you just measure the dimensions of your linear bearing you can probably find it on the thx site.

 

bearings

I just realized I replied to the wrong post. Check my post for bearing info.

 

Hi, what about it?

Hi, KingsoWraps, are you sure that is the size? I´m going to buy the balls and i´ll try to replace it by myself. It looks so simple, I took the three bearings out without problems, but I´d like to be sure about the size, because in my country can´t buy it ( Venezuela...) so I´m going to order it by amazon. Thanks in advantage. This post help me so much, Now I know I´m not alone

 

Hi Was wondering how you went with replacing the bearings?