Shaft end adapter and ball screw assembly

1. A shaft end adapter, comprising:

a mounting shaft portion;

a tubular portion coaxially formed with one end of the mounting shaft portion and having an axial bottomed bore having a circular cross section and defining an opening for receiving an end of a shaft member at a free end of the tubular portion, the free end being axially remote from the mounting shaft portion, wherein the tubular portion is formed with a large diameter portion in part thereof at or adjacent to the free end thereof, and is formed with an entirely circumferentially continuous portion in a part thereof at or adjacent to the free end thereof, and wherein the tubular portion defines a slit extending axially through a wall of the tubular portion in exclusion of the entirely circumferentially continuous portion; and

a clamp member mounted on the tubular portion and configured to close the slit, wherein the clamp member comprises a fastening bolt threaded into the tubular portion and extending across the slit, wherein the large diameter portion defines a bolt mounting recess in which a bolt receiving hole opens, and wherein the bolt receiving hole is configured such that the fastening bolt is inserted into the bolt receiving hole to be threaded into the tubular portion.

2. The shaft end adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the circumferentially continuous portion defines a circumferentially continuous inner circumferential surface adjacent to an open end of the axial bore.

3. The shaft end adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the circumferentially continuous portion defines an axial end surface of the tubular portion at an open end of the tubular portion as a circumferentially continuous surface.

4. The shaft end adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the slit extends axially in the wall of the tubular portion in exclusion of a second entirely circumferentially continuous portion formed at or adjacent to a base end thereof axially remote from the free end.

5. The shaft end adapter according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of threaded holes are passed radially across the tubular portion at circumferentially different locations, each defining an open end in the axial bore, and a screw member is threaded into each of the threaded holes, each screw member being configured to abut an outer circumferential surface of the shaft member at a free end thereof.

6. The shaft end adapter according to claim 5 , wherein the tubular portion is adapted to receive a ball screw shaft as the shaft member.

7. The shaft end adapter according to claim 1 , wherein a flange portion is integrally formed in a base end of the tubular portion axially remote from the free end thereof via a shaft portion, and a plurality of through holes are axially passed through the flange portion at different circumferential positions, the tubular portion being formed with a plurality of threaded holes opening out in an end surface of the base end of the tubular portion in alignment with the corresponding through holes of the flange portion, and a screw member passed into each of the through holes being threaded into the corresponding threaded hole.

8. The shaft end adapter according to claim 1 , wherein a flange portion is integrally formed in a base end of the tubular portion located axially remote from the free end thereof via a shaft portion, and is provided with a plurality of circumferentially arranged threaded holes, a screw member being threaded into each of the threaded holes so as to abut an end surface of the base end at a free end thereof.

9. The shaft end adapter according to claim 1 , wherein the fastening bolt is threaded into the tubular portion and extending across the slit at each of at least two axial positions, at least one of the positions being in the large diameter portion.

10. A ball screw assembly including the shaft end adapter according to claim 1 and a ball screw shaft attached thereto.