Compare and contrast the off the shelf ball rods

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check out this type of ball link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/X-Spede-Associated-RC-10-B3-Buggy-55-65mm-steel-tie-rod-
SA5565-/140670730883?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20c0a10283#ht_6
90wt_1035

With a ball bearing custom solution. 

See if you can contact the manufacturing company of thee ball links for volume 
prices. 

Original issue reported on code.google.com by kharring...@neuronrobotics.com on 22 Jan 2012 at 4:57

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The manufacturer is X Speed (http://xspede.com/) but it does not look like they 
actually sell them. 
There is no contact information on the website, but here are some places that 
sell them:
http://www.hobbyetc.com/item.cgi?part_id=45651
http://www.liquidrc.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=456
51
http://www.rcemergency.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=
45651

Possible alternative is the ball ends alone:
Hobby grade:
http://www.3racing-parts.com/shop/58mm-ball-20mm-10pcs-3racing-3racbe5820-p-9000
1452.html
Metal:
http://emersonbearing.thomasnet.com/item/rod-ends-inch-metric-/cm-male-2-piece-m
etal-to-metal-rod-ends/item-2990?&plpver=1001&bc=0|1167

Original comment by mark.mor...@gmail.com on 22 Jan 2012 at 10:26

• Changed state: Started

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I ordered a couple of the ball joints from Hobby Etc to play around with.

After receiving them and looking them over, I believe that they could work just 
as well as a U-Joint however I'm concerned about repeatability in the assembly. 
Since they're threaded on, we would need to make sure they are all threaded on 
the same depth as each other and also make sure they're in the same 
orientation. 

I'd like to open a discussion to see if anyone has an idea of how to make sure 
we can consistently assemble the printer if we used this type of joint. If we 
cannot figure out a way to assemble consistently the cost analysis is moot.

Original comment by m...@myomo.com on 26 Jan 2012 at 1:58

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After our discussion on 01/29/2012 it does not seem like the off the self ball 
end rods are the best design to pursue.

Original comment by mark.mor...@gmail.com on 2 Feb 2012 at 1:05

• Changed state: Done