Help with the Acme Nut

I ran into the same thing, needed a new nylon nut but Von Weise didn't return phone calls or email. Didn't want to order the brass nut then have to take it to a machine shop, plus I figure this part is made from nylon so it can wear out or break instead of some really hard to replace part breaking. So I designed a new nut in 3D software and had it printed in nylon online, but it was too tight- I had used the 3/4" acme threads which are sized exactly to fit but apparently you need to leave some room. Made the thread faces smaller by 0.005" and raised the foot and crest by 0.003", and printed it again- it works great though it seems like it could be a little tighter so it'll last longer.

For anyone that's interested in doing the same thing I tried to attach the STL files that you can send to be printed, but I guess you can only attach images in this forum? For this reason, I just created a page with links to the STL files I made and thorough instructions about how to use one of the STL files to get a 3d printed nut (it cost me $18 and change to get it printed/shipped) and how to replace your broken nut with this one.

Von Weise Linear Actuator Fix for model v76-5

I attached a couple screenshots from the article. The first is the result of getting the old nut out with a jigsaw:
View attachment 154308
The second is the new nylon nut on the threaded rod (the outer tube is removed in this photo to test the nut on the rod).
View attachment 154309

Here's the link to the nylon nut STL file in case you're familiar with 3D printing and it's so obvious to you what to do that you don't want to bother with the article :) .

Nylon Nut STL File

If you want to try the STL file with a tighter version of the nut (that I have NOT tried myself), check the article.

This is great info to have in case somebody needs one in the future. Thanks for sharing and Welcome to Satellite Guys! :)
 
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