LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

Just a thought, the Y axis is most often geared?

Gene Uselman wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 Just a thought, the Y axis is most often geared?

I'm not understanding what you mean, Gene.

With pulleys/belt-

Gene Uselman wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 With pulleys/belt-

OK, I got you now.

Most builds I've seen use a direct drive NEMA 17. I understand why commercial made lasers are made that away, with all the weight that is driven with the Y motor.

Now with that picture you posted, I going to look into doing something like that. I do have some old 269oz NEMA 23's I could do that with. I'm guessing that it's geared 2 to 1.

Gene Uselman wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 With pulleys/belt-

Gene, do you know what size the big shaft is in your photo??? and the size of the shaft it is coupled to (with the 2 pulleys on it)????

I think I'm going to do mine this way.

Thanks

Rodney

I've decided to go with the 2 to 1 reduction and go with a 282oz NEMA 23 on the Y axis. The motor and drive pulleys will be 20 tooth and the reduction pulley will be 40 tooth. I just ordered the pulleys and a 270 belt from China. While I'm waiting for them, I try to make the motor and shaft mounts. I'll use 8mm shaft for the pulleys to mount on and then use a 12mm driveshaft between to two. I think 12mm is large enough that it shouldn't do any whipping.

I guess I really need to "thank" Gene for getting me to thinking about the changing that.

I don't think that the size of the shaft is very important- mine is pretty big as my bed is wayyy too big... and thanks for the thanks but as I tell my sweetie... it is all part of the service.

Idler mount for the "Y" is done.

Note the peenning around the bearing. These new bearings I got were .001" under on the OD. This works in most cases if the gap is not too big.

I love alum extrusions for building 'stuff'- I have a design for a non-motorized rotary device based on Russ' acrylic model but made from extrusions and laser cut plastic. It is powered by the motion of the gantry, so no electrical setup. Let me know if you want the full plans. I only ask for a small donation to the forum.