Finally able to get the machine to the garage! On a temporary table as I intended to go full 4x8 sheet but likely have 40x40 workable as-is so I can at least start on a workflow.
One question, one of the couplers looks a little more open than I was expecting. I suspect this is from my initial running of the machine when I didn’t realize I had the wires in backwards, kept hitting to raise Z and I believe it was lowering it. Does this require fixing or am I OK to continue as is?
I ended up replacing mine when I bent mine in transit. I suspect that you could use it but that it would be hard to square your z as the tensions would be different.
Are the motor shaft and the leadscrew touching? They should stay that way, and that will ensure repeatable height.
Does the leadscrew bind? The point of the coupler is to connect the two parts, but leadscrews are very critical of alignment and having the coupler lets it flew a tiny bit to align itself better.
If those two things are good, then I wouldn’t rush to replace them. But probably order some spares on the slow boat.
I am still running some fairly badly battered couplers inside of these plastic shells. I dismounted them after the “incident” and used two pairs of small needle nose pliers to press the “spring” part back together, coil by coil.
Needless to say I have spares, somewhere …
These “spring” couplers are really not precision parts to begin with so as long as they don’t slip or twist under torque, they’re fine.
These snap around the coupler from the sides so they can be installed even without taking the couplers off the machine. You may need to loosen set-screws on one end to be able to compress them enough to fit though.