1. Do not share user accounts! Any account that is shared by another person will be blocked and closed. This means: we will close not only the account that is shared, but also the main account of the user who uses another person's account. We have the ability to detect account sharing, so please do not try to cheat the system. This action will take place on 04/18/2023. Read all forum rules.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. For downloading SimTools plugins you need a Download Package. Get it with virtual coins that you receive for forum activity or Buy Download Package - We have a zero Spam tolerance so read our forum rules first.

    Buy Now a Download Plan!
  3. Do not try to cheat our system and do not post an unnecessary amount of useless posts only to earn credits here. We have a zero spam tolerance policy and this will cause a ban of your user account. Otherwise we wish you a pleasant stay here! Read the forum rules
  4. We have a few rules which you need to read and accept before posting anything here! Following these rules will keep the forum clean and your stay pleasant. Do not follow these rules can lead to permanent exclusion from this website: Read the forum rules.
    Are you a company? Read our company rules

How about our community Kickstarts a Linear Actuator

Discussion in 'Off Topic - All other stuff here' started by telfel, Mar 5, 2014.

  1. telfel

    telfel Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2011
    Messages:
    170
    Balance:
    4,735Coins
    Ratings:
    +118 / 3 / -0
    Hi All

    Our community helps each other with their experience and knowledge which is great, so how about we put our heads together and come up with a design, drawings, and the eventual manufacture of the parts so that our members can source and assemble a DIY linear actuator?

    To kickstart this and get the ball rolling

    My initial specs would be

    1 a universal design to suit 2dof through to a 6dof

    2 adaptable motor mounts to suit various motors

    3 quiet operation


    I have seen a few linear actuator designs on the net, bff, Rolands, and the one that to me that has the most potential, as an easy to assemble diy project is this one.

    http://jippes.home.xs4all.nl/hi6sim/MK_IV.html


    group.JPG

    what do you guys think?

    regards Terry
  2. RacingMat

    RacingMat Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2013
    Messages:
    2,233
    Location:
    Marseille - FRANCE
    Balance:
    20,875Coins
    Ratings:
    +2,079 / 21 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    Good idea Telfel!

    Let's think about this!

    This belt design looks simple indeed. I wonder if the belt can cope with this amount of effort, and how big is the backlash?
    Mat
  3. telfel

    telfel Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2011
    Messages:
    170
    Balance:
    4,735Coins
    Ratings:
    +118 / 3 / -0
    Hi Mat

    One of the pictures on the Douwe site I linked to, is a prototype actuator from

    http://www.motion-sim.cz/index.php/en

    using a toothed belt drive, they have very good motion judging by their videos.

    also with Douwe's design the air cylinder can balance the weight which should even up the loading on the belt.

    regards Terry
  4. eaorobbie

    eaorobbie Well-Known Member SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    May 26, 2009
    Messages:
    2,574
    Occupation:
    CAD Detailer
    Location:
    Ellenbrook, Western Australia
    Balance:
    20,390Coins
    Ratings:
    +1,683 / 23 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK, SimforceGT, 6DOF
    A couple of us are actually in personal development of exactly what you propose, I have one working unit as a test unit, just ramping the speeds to match or better the SCN5 but wont be a DIY project, they will be sold complete, its the end of 2 years of research and development I have endured.

    But would strongly back a diy community developed Linear Actutor, but really needs to beat 700mm/s I push out of DC motors with Jrks to worth it I feel.

    Ah Matt there is no backlash on ballscrews mate.
    • Disagree Disagree x 1
  5. RacingMat

    RacingMat Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2013
    Messages:
    2,233
    Location:
    Marseille - FRANCE
    Balance:
    20,875Coins
    Ratings:
    +2,079 / 21 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    • Agree Agree x 1
  6. bsft

    bsft

    Balance:
    Coins
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    as @eaorobbie says, I am working with him on DIY actuators currently. And I will post ALL details on the site soon. Just got to get the time to finish them...hopefully within a few weeks
    • Disagree Disagree x 1
  7. Historiker

    Historiker Dramamine Adict Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    Dec 16, 2010
    Messages:
    2,158
    Occupation:
    Retired
    Location:
    Michigan USA
    Balance:
    9,176Coins
    Ratings:
    +2,156 / 19 / -1
    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, Arduino, Motion platform, 6DOF
    From my DIY CNC router table experience I can say that there is indeed backlash on ball screws. You can of course greatly reduce backlash but like anything else, you have to throw more money at it.
    • Agree Agree x 2
  8. RaceRay

    RaceRay Administrator Staff Member SimAxe Beta Tester

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2006
    Messages:
    4,656
    Occupation:
    Self-employed | Web and application development
    Location:
    Hamburg, Germany
    Balance:
    23,837Coins
    Ratings:
    +1,958 / 13 / -0
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, SimAxe, SimforceGT
    Than why not sharing and collecting the progress here in the thread with @telfel and us instead of telling us that you are already working on it? Imho that does not make sense and is very contra productive.

    @telfel great idea:cheers
    • Agree Agree x 2
  9. eaorobbie

    eaorobbie Well-Known Member SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    May 26, 2009
    Messages:
    2,574
    Occupation:
    CAD Detailer
    Location:
    Ellenbrook, Western Australia
    Balance:
    20,390Coins
    Ratings:
    +1,683 / 23 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK, SimforceGT, 6DOF
    Thanks Guys.
    I stand corrected , I dont bother looking at cheap stuff, gunna do why would you compromise the units by adding backlash, poor design to me, most I have looked into didn't have any, my test unit has zero backlash and actually was only $19 from china, lol.
    This is how we all learn.
  10. telfel

    telfel Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2011
    Messages:
    170
    Balance:
    4,735Coins
    Ratings:
    +118 / 3 / -0
    Hi Robbie

    I thought a community project would have ideas, contacts for supplies, and manufacturing facilities on each continent, thus you don't have high shipping costs.
    The other advantage of diy parts and self assembly kits is the injury or accident liability is with the builder.

    regards Terry
    • Agree Agree x 1
  11. adgun

    adgun Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2008
    Messages:
    493
    Occupation:
    mechanic
    Location:
    Netherlands
    Balance:
    5,540Coins
    Ratings:
    +131 / 3 / -0
    If a ballscrew is having backlash ore not,depents on his precision class.
    c1/c3/c5 class ballscrews have no backlash and c7 class and higher have backlash.
    c7 class is mostly sold on ebay and have 0,05 mm backlash
    regards Ad
    • Informative Informative x 5
    • Like Like x 1
  12. eaorobbie

    eaorobbie Well-Known Member SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    May 26, 2009
    Messages:
    2,574
    Occupation:
    CAD Detailer
    Location:
    Ellenbrook, Western Australia
    Balance:
    20,390Coins
    Ratings:
    +1,683 / 23 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK, SimforceGT, 6DOF
    We have planned to share , well its been a 3 month project to come up with a method and principle that would work for most DIY builders , don't want to post something thats a white elephant and never works well.
    • Like Like x 1
  13. eaorobbie

    eaorobbie Well-Known Member SimTools Developer Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    May 26, 2009
    Messages:
    2,574
    Occupation:
    CAD Detailer
    Location:
    Ellenbrook, Western Australia
    Balance:
    20,390Coins
    Ratings:
    +1,683 / 23 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK, SimforceGT, 6DOF
    Sorry @RaceRay the unit I spoke about I can not share it was built for another person on a commercial level, I got it running and he disappeared to be fair to his personal investment I had shelved it to protect his interest only. This is not a BBF Clone but an industrial quality linear actuator. I had built in china for him, he paid for but never returned.
  14. RacingMat

    RacingMat Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2013
    Messages:
    2,233
    Location:
    Marseille - FRANCE
    Balance:
    20,875Coins
    Ratings:
    +2,079 / 21 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    Here a complete video explaining how to build a belt linear actuator:


    and a 6 DOF running with 6 DIY linear actuators:


    very nice, indeed!
    • Informative Informative x 3
  15. telfel

    telfel Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2011
    Messages:
    170
    Balance:
    4,735Coins
    Ratings:
    +118 / 3 / -0
    Hi Mat

    I have been following Rolands work, very clever ideas, just seems a lot of work x 6,

    I think the Douwe actuator looks a lot more diy friendly, and using adjustable air pressure to balance the weight seems an easy way to adjust for different weights of users, equipment. using the air cylinder as the ram is genius.

    I don't feel the the drive belt slack will be a problem, the image on the Douwe site is an early prototype, once tensioned. Car cam belts dont really stretch, and the design would allow easy replacement.

    I did read the history of Motion Sim cz, and the development of their belt driven actuator, using powerful ac drive motors.

    regards Terry

  16. RacingMat

    RacingMat Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2013
    Messages:
    2,233
    Location:
    Marseille - FRANCE
    Balance:
    20,875Coins
    Ratings:
    +2,079 / 21 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    Hi Telfel!

    Can you tell us what do you intend to design: an actuator for flight sim or for racing sim ?
    as the specs are not similar :eek:
    yours
  17. telfel

    telfel Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2011
    Messages:
    170
    Balance:
    4,735Coins
    Ratings:
    +118 / 3 / -0
    Hi
    Just bouncing a few idea's around, to see what feedback we get.
    I thought for a
    1, seat mover short actuator no air balacing (racing)
    2, 3dof short actuator air balancing (racing or flight depending on motor pulley gearing
    3, 6 dof long actuator air balancing (flight)

    regards Terry
  18. bsft

    bsft

    Balance:
    Coins
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
  19. telfel

    telfel Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2011
    Messages:
    170
    Balance:
    4,735Coins
    Ratings:
    +118 / 3 / -0
    Hi Dave
    Nah I'm the dirt bag builder lol

    Look forward to seeing your prototype,

    At the moment i'm building a 6dof wormgear, crank arm sim,

    I will give the linear a go after that, I was thinking of getting the parts manufactured and then the diy parts just have to be assembled

    Regards Terry