As long as you aren’t over too much you can shim them out with thin pieces of filler (washers, aluminum sheet drilled out, etc. and still get decent travel. There is some adjustment built into the X axis. You basically want to make sure you aren’t binding on the bearing or leadscrew by forcing the alignment too wide or too narrow. The best way I’ve found to test this is to assemble the whole axis without the leadscrew to start and then manually move it top to bottom checking for binding. If it seems to be working fine, add the leadscrew bits back in and then run it up and down again a few times. If you seem to be getting binding at the top or bottom of the run, chances are you need to adjust the alignment
Thanks guys. I will leave the plates as is and see how they work! I will do my best to test binding based on what piercet said (however this is still confusing to me).
After heavy indecision, Ive also decided against painting my raw aluminium X End Plates for obvious reasons…
For the other noobs like me, theres a group purchase (as mentioned by unextas) for those cool vibration dampers for $23 for 3 here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!topic/deltabot/pwESzDy0AYA I cant wait to see how much quieter the TAZ gets.
For taz 2 to 4 upgrade you also need:
-M5x20 thumbscrew for new z motor mount (cut down to make M5x14 if nec.) : http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/120/3070/=syhcyu or you can make your own and print a cool knob!..
-M2 Screws for z-end stop switch : http://www.mcmaster.com/#91290a017/=syhhdi
-M2 Washers : http://www.mcmaster.com/#90965A110
-24V Silicon Heat bed : http://www.lulzbot.com/products/24v-silicon-heater
-24V 15A Power Supply : http://www.lulzbot.com/products/24vdc-15a-360w-power-supply
If you plan to upgrade to a dual extruder you also need:
-M4 Washer
http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/120/3228/=syhfw9
-M4 Nuts
http://www.mcmaster.com/#91290A168
-M4 Screws
http://www.mcmaster.com/#91290A168
Optional Upgrade:
-M5x14 frame screws - for future frame upgrades like and SD card & exacto knife holder
http://www.mcmaster.com/#91290a230/=syhpy8
-Tri-flo grease or white lithium grease(if you upgrade to ball bearings) : http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/120/2171/=syhd63
http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=white+lithium+grease&_sop=2
Well, just finished my upgrade… Z axis is working fine and moves smoothly with zero backlash 
two degrees left on the bed to start my first print… I’ll update in a little bit
edit: first print came out OK! Here’s a quick video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G72Tx1H5gvs
I shot it with my phone and the microphone seems to have picked some weird resonance noises that I couldn’t hear… The noise of the printer is definitely very different. The linear bearings are indeed louder than the igus plastic bearings, but the steppers are much, much quieter. Overall, the printer is much quieter than it was. I can’t hear it in the the next room, while before I could walk upstairs and still hear it.
The print quality improved quite a bit, but there are still some artifacts and ripples that I’m not too excited about. I didn’t replace the Y axis IGUS bushings with linear bearings (wanted to save some $$ on the hardened rods) so there is still a lot of wiggle in the bed, but I was hoping that wouldn’t be as noticeable. I’m tempted to replace the bushings with the bearings anyway, even knowing the stainless rods won’t last very long, just to see if it makes any difference.
Here’s a couple pics of the upgrades:
Wow that is the sickest, most badass machine on this forum! Those ball-screw rods and your X_End Plates are mean looking ! I feel like you have created a one-of TAZ that nobody else has! You should finish by printing the rest of your black parts in white any maybe design some custom corner brackets as well add some white LEDs (I have lots of bright sign grade LEDs I can share for free. They look like this http://image.dhgate.com/albu_509118405_00-1.0x0/led-module-light-lamp-smd-5050-waterproof.jpg)
Im still on holidays so I won’t be able to do my mods until next week. Thanks for sharing!
Two question, why does your hardened rod stick out of the top a little? As well, did you find any clearance issues installing the vibration dampers on any of the axis’s?
2con
Very nice!
I was having trouble with the print bed twisting when it changed directions as well. I initially installed bearing on the Y axis but they started wearing grooves in my rails. Orias recommended the following:
Remove the Y axis assembly.
Loosen the bushing mounts on the bottom of the bed.
Twist the bushing mounts to tighten the bushings up against the rod.
Tighten the bushing mounts while holding a twisting force on them.
Re-install the Y axis assembly.
For me, this solved the problem. My bed no longer does the twist.
Thanks for the nice comments There’s no good reason why the rods stick out of the top, they could easily be slid down a couple of mm… That’s just where they ended up when I put them through and I didn’t really think about it too much!
I didn’t find any issues at all with the vibration dampers… Just had to slide the pulleys forward by a few mm to match the offset of the dampers. The only possible problem is that the dampers attach to the motors with 2 screws and to the frame mounts with the other 2 screws. My ABS printed parts are not quite as strong as the stock Lulzbot parts (I should have used more infill and ideally a 0.5mm nozzle) so I don’t know if I’ll run into trouble with the mounts cracking in the future, but so far, so good. I’ve been busy getting some other projects going so I’ve probably only printed about 5 or 6 hours worth of plastic after the upgrades, but I’m happy with how things turned out. I haven’t had time to really get this thing dialed, and it’s frustrating that the quality still isn’t near what my mini kossel was cranking out (without ANY effort) but realistically, the stuff I’m doing doesn’t have to be cosmetically perfect.
Where did you get those metal X axis end plates, and would you have a second set to sell by any chance?
Just a perk of having a CNC mill
I didn’t make a second set… Theoretically I could make more, but it’s a bit of a pain and I wouldn’t feel right asking for enough $$ to cover the time they take me… These would be much easier to make on a waterjet!
What is the TAZ 4 Z steps/mm with the leadscrew? What is the calculation to obtain it? 
I can called help desk about this and all you do is go snooping through the taz 4 firmware and find the value associated with z steps per minute and you change your current value to the taz 4 value the value on your LCD screen or (manually with a reflash).
I havnt done the mods yet but I have made all my parts including the x end plates so please let me know if I’m missing a step. I am upgrading to a 24V bed as well so I believe with this new addition there is a lot more to change on top of z-steps.
Ive talked to my contact and he is willing to make a few sets for extra cash on the side. He says manually it took 4 hours, but if he was to make more he would do it differently and save some time. He said his shop would charge probably ~$300 a set, and since he is making them on the side we would charge between 150 - 170 (plus shipping). I want to try them on my machine before I offer them for sale, but I am confident they will work.
It would be awesome if we could get at least 3 people interested in a set so its worth our time. The price can be reduced to with a larger order.
unextas:
Also, Can 1/4" material be used? Did you use 1/4"?
3/16" (what lulzbot spec says) is harder to find.
2CON
I used 3/16", metal supermarkets (thats an actual company hehe) near me had lots of it in stock!
Maybe I should rethink making these sets lol… I was thinking I’d have to charge $75 or so for a set to make it worth my time, but didn’t think people would want to pay that much Still think lulzbot could easily order a few more of these from their supplier and save people a bunch of money!
Has anyone else tried these out of plastic?
My plastic ones seem to work fine. There probably is a bit of flex potential there, but the X axis rods and the Z axis rods constrain that somewhat to where I don’t think it will be an issue. I would be willing to buy a metal set for $75 if one were available. I would not be buying one at $150 though.
Hmm… Well I have enough aluminum to make two more pairs. If you do want a pair, send me a PM and we’ll get things going. They’re fairly small and light so I can probably include shipping to the US/Canada for the $75. I guess I can make it USD75 for the US folks and CAD75 in Canada
I’m busy today and tomorrow but could have these made and shipped on Wednesday.
Btw, just to clarify - these would be made from 3/16" 6061-T6, CNC milled with all the holes drilled and tapped as specified… They will be deburred but not polished or anodized, just the mill finish top and bottom and the machined finish on the sides! If I was making 10 pairs or something, anodizing would be cheap to do, but for a couple of pairs I don’t think it’s worth it 
spray paint should work OK if you want them to be black!
Anyway - since it is a CNC, most of the time and effort is in setting things up… If there were enough folks interested, the price could easily come down further, but I don’t know that there are that many folks doing these upgrades! I’ve thought about putting together TAZ4 ballscrew upgrade kits with all the printed parts, machined bits and the hardware etc… Not sure how ‘kosher’ it would be to try to sell something like that on the lulzbot forum I think I’d they wanted people to upgrade, they’d sell the kits themselves! The X end plates are really more suited to be waterjet cut and they end up being much cheaper that way… I think they cost Aleph Objects under $12 each - in 1500 quantities 
I actually have a small anodizing setup so I could anodize them if I decided to go that route. One of these days I’ll get my CNC mill finished and fully operational heh.
As far as kits go, the way I look at it, is if you are selling something the company itself has not expressed an interest in selling, having that available to people who own those printers is probably a benefit because it increases the options available to the machine owners. I’ve toyed with similar ideas for various A0-10x upgrades or lighting subsystems too.
At any rate, I’ll shoot you a PM here in a minute.
I just printed off a pair of these parts, BUT I would think about purchasing a pair for $50 if the cost got down to it…especially if they were anodized a nice black color
Ross
If you find 9 more people to order at once, I’d probably do them for $50 (plus shipping!) and I’d consider the anodizing… But you might have to settle for black spray paint!
I’m in for a set in the $50 - $75 range. Make sure you charge enough to make it worth your while.
Well, the way I made mine and piercet’s (just need to finish tapping some of the holes tomorrow and will ship in the afternoon! ) I have a single fixture, so it takes quite a while… Basically cut the inside pockets and drill all the holes on one plate with external clamps, take the clamps off, put bolts through a few of the holes to hold the plate in place, machine the outside. Repeat for each plate… If I had a tool changer, it wouldn’t be quite so bad either! It’s not hard work, it just takes a while and keeps me from doing anything else as most operations finish in a few minutes and I need to change tools to get the next one going.
If an order for 10 or more pairs came in, it would be worth while making a bigger fixture so I could cut 2 or 4 plates at a time. That would save me a lot of babysitting the machine and a lot of wasted time changing tools back and forth… But it would take me a couple hours to make a bigger fixture (realistically, more than a couple… It’s one of those things that always seems simpler than it ends up being grrr…).
jebcom, PM me if you’d like a set for $75 - I have enough aluminum to make one more pair that I could ship tomorrow or Thursday. I’m happy with the $75 including shipping and feel it’s a fair price for the work they give me, but I also completely understand that they may not be worth that much to most people. CNC milling isn’t quite the ideal process for these and there are better ways to make them, just hard to justify without bulk ordering. Even a machine with a tool changer would make these super quick to make, but most machines with tool changers aren’t sitting idle in basements waiting for odd jobs to come up
Got my new Taz 4 Endplates from unxetas today. These things are very nice! Very clean, no burrs, the tapped holes are clean and true, everything lines up just fine. Definitely much stronger than the plastic equivalent. The only dimensional difference between these and the stock ones were the corner fillets where the center Z nut mount attaches. Unxetas let me know ahead of time that those would be there, and I personally feel that makes the part stronger anyways and is not in the way of any other assembly. Shipping was fast, they were well packaged, I’d do business with him again. My pictures here probably don’t do them justice, but here’s what they look like before they go on the machine with a printed (home print by me, non Lulzbot official print) for comparison
I’m quite happy with these.