6 DOF from scratch

I had to read that sentence twice because of what I thought it said at a glance. Haha
Great, I'm glad it worked out for your.

Yeah, same happened to me and I didn't knew why as it is not my first language, double sense is beyond language barriers

Yeah! Keep your "Ball Nut" out of my thread!

Thanks for the files, I saved them. I may use them someday. Almost certain of that.

As for my idea, it is a rod that would run through the base, on 2 ball bearing. At the end another bearing perpendicular would be attached to the end.
Since my actual actuator do not have a bottom plate, I could attache them on the side. I think those kind of parts would be easier to find. Did not search yet.



It can provide a wide range of movements.



The positioning is an approximation, don't start exhaustive calculations over those renders.
I think it would be even a better fit inside the base.






I have to go to a bearing shop, but they are only open during working hours!

@Pierre Lalancette
If you want to use socket set universal joint, a way to get away from drilling the tool steel is to weld a socket that fits a 1/2" hex coupling nut or bolt.
The female end could be welded to a plate with maybe a rod in the square hole or just a bit of studding welded.
All depends on whether you want male or female ends.

Yes, soldering could be a solution. I've done a little bit of it, so, it would not be totally new to me.

But I really want to explore the idea I had. It would lower the actuator and give more head room. But I have to take a day off to do that, and I need to work to pay my rig. Vicious cycling.

At least, my 3D printing and Fusion 360 skills are getting better.



The psu support works, but it has to be assemble, it is hard to pass the psu into it, it misses the fixing screw hole and the attaching hole for the tie-wrap is too small. It needs a better design. Something open on the top where psu can be load and unload easily. Back to the drawing mother board.

Second version of the psu support. Not bad, but it is too high and the tie wrap has not much holding effect on the psu. Also, the tie wrap is really hard to get into the side. The round fillets are not strong enough.



So I made them shorter, with wider holes for the tie wrap. I wanted to put them side by side for a tidy design with ventilation fans. But how will I be able to attach the tie-wrap like that? So many little things that you don't think of when designing stuff. I will have to give it space on the side and think about the AC cable. But at least, the tie-wrap hold the psu firmly in place now. Takes 3 hours to print a set of two. 4 done, 8 to go.



Now that I've been biten by the designing bug, I did little supports for the V-wheel. They work great on the puck, but the more I think of it, the more the puck part will become a printed solution. But for testing, I will stick to the puck right now. Also, since the carbon tube are no longer part of the structural necessities of my actuator, I removed 2 of them to give me more place for the gears, the potentiometer and the limit switches (still in the design state).

Production is underway, with a new box of screws to attach them all into the base:



Now the designing of the reducer for the potentiometer. I am a the stage I hate the most. I have to try something, knowing I will do everything wrong. This is a obliged passage where you improve from "I have no idea what I'm doing". Designed in Solid edges.



Of course, everything's wrong with it. I did not give enough space for the gears, not enough space for the potentiometer, and no holes are big enough for any shaft. But like I said, it is a prototype to improve upon. Once you have a 3d model in your hand, it is a lot easier to figure out what is wrong with it and start your design again, and again, and again... Still, I was surprised how well my printer handled the bridge portion of the part.



The only thing that seem right about this piece, is that it attached well to the actuator.



But is is big! How does people fit there potentiometer into their actuator?
Back to the design for the second pass.

Nice work , I also have a 3D printer, but that does not mean that I use it for every part that I make (and it takes so long )- my brackets for the actuator feedback pot where made perfectly out of cutting/bending thin aluminium sheet and then bonding them with fibreglass/carbon fibre - Easy/quick to make and they fit perfectly and are very light/strong. IMO, I think when you buy a 3D printer you have to be careful of trying to use it for everything, often the old methods are still the quickest and best .

Hate to say it, but I recognize those pots - are they cheap and from China ? IMO, I recommend you throw them in the bin and buy something a bit better quality - From experience they will fail very quickly and then you will likely break something of much higher value.

Yes, I may be using too much 3d printing, but I don't trust much my manual confection. I am much better at figuring out the way to do it in front of a computer and let a precise machine do the hard work. Its long, but its fun to look at it make your imperfects designs in a perfect way.

For the Pot, I bought them locally, but they may come from china. I only bought one for now, so, if you have any recommendation, I am all ears.

Edit: Looking at the back of my potentiometer, it says: "Bourns" from Mexico.

Hi Guys tooI had issue with those Pots as well , they ( well one did anyway ) sorta started to separate so I had to make a belt n braces fix to prevent them from separating . seeing this as a possible manufacture issue and due to my current pot mount design I opted to make a retaining saddle which I could retrofit in situ added to the existing pot mount without removal ... there are more elegant ways of doing this and you may not have the same scenario .. but seeing as how I had one do this I took the opportunity to mod them all I as a just in case measure...

So, if the fix to the problem of those pot is encapsulation, I'm already solving the problem by doing a shell to the pot in my actual design. I'll just make sure it is nice and tight.
Thanks for the info.
Still, if someone wants to refer to their personnal favorite potentiometer, it's always nice to know in case of a failure.

In OZ, I just went to Element 14 and picked something suitable - Also ordered some spares. Recommend you do something similar in your country.

One other question @SeatTime (I can't remember from your thread). Do you use 10 turns pot or do you do extra reduction to go to one turn?
I looked into this Element 14 (that I didn't know) and there is a Canadian distributor. But, most of the pot are 'Bourn' like mine, and those who are not are crazy expensive.

https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...6dof-motion-platform.10542/page-6#post-138934

I use those, so far it's ok

I plan to switch to kangaroo controler and optical encoder some day ...

I too got the Bournes pots initially. You might like to consider these pots:
http://au.element14.com/vishay/536-1-1-103/wirewound-potentiometer-10kohm/dp/1386483

They are more expensive than the cheap Bournes pots but you will find they are not only much higher quality & last longer they are also easier to turn (less friction) than the Bournes pots.

Vishay 536-1-1-103
noted.
I will probably do some test with the one I have... and with limit swithes. But I will order those.

BOURNS 3549S-1AA-103B

I'm using these, only a few days so I do not know how durable.
I chose these because in the specification is written:

- Suitable for use under some side load conditions
- Rotational Life 2,000,000 shaft revolutions
- Total Resistance Tolerance ±3 %

We will see how long they will work

Those Bourns are not on the cheap side. 24$ instead of the 16$ Vishay.
I decided to order the Vishay.
10 pots for some backup, just in case. I won't need them. I won't break anything. Never. Ever. But, just in case.

Christmas is early this year!




My potentiometers! Which are fricking awesome!

The other package is for an other project, about human senses. They are telephone rumble device (sounds better than vibrator). If you are curious, see this TED Talk. I found it simply amazing:

As for my design, I finally got something that did not fail me on the spot. For one success, there is so many tries.



There is a difference between the measurements I take, the one I put into the software and the one I get from my printer. I did some scale test trying to get the distances right and all.


I found some bolts and nails that are just the right size to do the gears shaft. Everything turn as they are suppose to do. I still need to redo the design of the little gear to be able to attach it (glue) to the strap's gear. So far, the gears are done in fusions and the case in Solid Edge.