Showroom 6DOF Build (Bodine Motors, Sabertooth, FlyPT Mover)

You can always try thread lock first but considering everything above I would do this myself.

First I would use a use a standard high speed ¼” drill bit and try drilling into the small hole in the end of the motors shaft. If it drills out easily (for steel) then I’d drill in about ¼” deep (more on this later). If it doesn’t then it could be hardened steel and I’d use a locking collar with a lever welded to it and try to come up with a way to mount the pot. Otherwise, I’d continue by drilling a 5/8” hole in a piece of flat bar steel that is 1¼ to 1½ wide x ¼’ thick and weld it onto the motors shaft. I would then mount the ¼” hall pots shaft directly to the end of the motors shaft where I drilled it out to ¼” x ¼’ using 5-minute epoxy. It’s not as nice as drilling and taping a set screw but it works just the same.

As far as a pot coupler goes, it is mostly needed to allow for some movement between the motor and the pot so it doesn’t overstress the pots bearings. There’s another way to handle that however and that is to allow the pots housing to float instead of solidly mounting it. All that is required is to keep it from twisting, not from otherwise moving around. I use 3-conductor 22gage solid wire cable to connect my pots with. They are soldered to the back of the hall pots in a triangular formation already and that helps keep them from twisting. If you spread the wires apart further from one another it’s even harder to twist. Then evenly bring all the wires together again and mount them to a stationary location in a way that allows the pot some freedom to move around but without twisting. That method also makes it very easy to adjust the pots position by just bending the wires a little bit. And if you need to replace a pot down the road some needle nose pliers on the pots shaft and some hard twisting will break it loose evenly.

Anyway, good luck with the thread lock. I hope it does the trick.

@bruce stephen, Yes, as soon as I get an MM and a power supply.

All of this is why I went with a gear setup. I haven't gone much further with the belt idea but just mainly because my gear setup is very stable. The gear setup involves sliding a gear over the shaft. No welding and drilling on the motor.

wow @BlazinH Alright I am gona take one step at a time. Right now I need to focus on figuring out the connecting rod lengths and angles. Will keep you guys posted.

Late to the conversation, but this is how I connected my pot to the Bodine motor. Welded a flat bar to the coupling. Had a 1/4" hole in the bar so I could simply feed through a 1/4" bolt. Then used a piece of hose that fit nicely over the bolt and the pot shaft. The hose has enough flex to allow me to get away with some misalignment, and hopefully it will break away easily if my motors make a full revolution for some reason.

Alright people I am considering these three designs here. Need to pick one and get started.
1)

2)

and finally SilentChill's


As you can see, all these designs are different and have motors mounted differently. Is there any advantage of one of these designs over the other? Thanks

these are all very similar setups....what are you seeing that differs greatly other than ac/dc and wood/steel.

So #1 has the motors mounted along the same plane whereas #2 has them mounted at an angle.

I will draw it in CAD and post the difference that I see.

From looking back into your thread, you have already purchased motors/gearbox, so your choice is made - #2.

@SeatTime I really appreciate you helping out here but could you please elaborate why I have to go with choice 2 and not choice 1 as the only difference I see between the two is the angle at which motors are mounted?

Not the angle the motor is mounted, but the shaft from the gearbox.

the levers on 2 are all the way at the bottom also. i doubt this is in an operating position. this makes it difficult to tell which way the levers will go(right or left of center). but again three different motors and the shafts all point in the same general direction. towards the center of the platform give or take a few degrees. the big difference I see is do you want a triangle or hexagon base?

thinking about a hexapod.

Where are the motors going to be mounted on this? Is this the base?

yes that's how big the base will be, motors will be mounted at each corner.

And it begins.... Got all the parts, CTC levers welded to the shaft couplers. Need to solder MMs, mod power supplies and test motors with SMC3.

The picture shows somewhat of what the final version will look like. I had it in place to see how much room I have in the middle for the electronics. Unfortunately one of the motors is bad (stuck), so will getting a replacement next week.

As far is SMC3 is concerned, here is my understanding.
1) Get SMC sketch on to the Arduino.
2) Set the Hall sensor feedback in the tool.
3) Test MMs output like silentchill did?

Nice update. You might be getting a little over optimistic on those lever length's......But Only time will tell tho. Good luck with the rest of the build.

Thanks @Nick Moxley, well I am ready to drill some more holes and shorten the lever if it comes to that

Guys, I like what @terry wells has done here with MM I/O by putting in a screw. I am considering doing this and then soldering the wire to the screw. Any issues with this approach?

Yea, don't do it, the circuit board is not designed for that. You may get away with it with a low powered model, but high current DC...