DIY Linear Actuator design

Haha it looks like your terrified of it lolol

Ramp up the power and get driving dude !!

Love it tho looks really good, awesome work mate well done.

Looking great . But don't be afraid to turn up the wick - looks like your driving to the shops . If your not sweating after one lap then your got it wrong. Don't forget the heave which in a formula car should be quite noticeable. I'm of course saying all this to see if this setup has any weaknesses Eg Can the Sabertooth Dual 32Amps handle the big/hard/snap changes in direction?- Setting up a F1 simulation even close to realistic should really tax any sim - including the passenger.

you guys have some good points . really need to get braver at this point truth is driving this baby to the shops is about all my sim driving skills can handle LOL still not quite sure I have the steering dialled in and keep forget that if you floor it then there is wheelspin and the chaos that follows LOL ( er make that crap driver)

Cranking up the AMC setting today so will let Ya'll know if the kit and driver survives ..

Hey @SeatTime thanks for the heads up regarding Heave, im sure that has been turned off in my BFF config as I read mistakenly somewhere that it was not needed for cars Doh so looking forward to that being activated later . .

Hello guys,

I ordered 1 ballscrew, I'm looking into motors now.

Do you think the 300W power of the PM90 is necessary ?, they are hot during use ?
The sabertooth support 24V, would it be better with 24V and less amps for the same power ?

thanks

Hi @baykah My motors have never gotten beyond mildly warm stage even when running fully loaded , I still have lots to tweak on the system but so far heat has never been an issue with any element in my system ( d oh tell a lie if I had a concern it would be the spec of the relays I used in the safety cut off circuit these are the only items with elevated temperature to date ) admittedly I have not had the sim running for more than 15 - 20 minutes at a time so far but that due to always tweaking something and learning as I go .. Overhead in either motor or controller is never a bad thing as it should mean less stress on the component when the system is going full tilt , I'm only now Turning up the wick and gradually stressing the system more each test . so will let you guys know when things start to warm up

I'm looking for a 80mm diameter 270w 3kg motor 3000rpm 12V on alibaba ..

Do you think that 3000rpm is enought ?

Could you share with me all your 3D part as STL export ? even the metal parts
(I'm on sketchup for drawing, so not easy to import 3D file)

I plan to 3D print everything, I hope that with 100% infill with colorfab ngen it will be strong enought. At least enought to get the first prototype to work.

I only bought 1 ball screw for the moment.

Thanks !

Hi @baykah For the structural Parts I would be inclined to use 18mm thick MDF or Beech Plywood same as @SilentChill has used for his Project, its a very forgiving medium and at this stage its strong enough and allows for fine tuning without breaking the bank as for my 3D parts I remade most of then on my CNC machine but seeing the work the other guys have done maybe they would be strong enough with the right infill level trouble is I now need to find where they a re buried on my PC ( call me mr disorganised ) .. not a problem sharing its just these project tend to be customised as you learn so they may well out of date or not applicable to your setup ... Cheers

It would be great not to have to 3D draw from your drawings which are great btw !

@ALL : Do you think 3000rpm motor are ok ?

I've ordererd the 3000rpm 270W 12V motors
Got 6 for 400USD (40$ each and 140$ shipping), I'm prety sure i will have taxes fees also ..

It may go to 80$ per motor at the end..

I also took 1 ballscrew on aliexpress..

I emailed igus for the bearing

I will buy some 20x60 rail and voilà !

Next will be to print some parts ..

Once 1 actuator is finished and OK, I will build the 5 left (taking into account that I allready have the motors)

Hi @SilentChill clip showing system belting around , I still have not cranked it up but doing it in stages , two issues have emerged but I think that's down to me leaving stuff at default settings . Not done any Real PID work ( just reading up on that now ) ..

1 every now and then its almost like signal loss and the platform goes to Park postion ?? restarts easily think it may be a time out setting I need to change in the AMC Controller

second one I have had before Pot position changed after very heavy breaking ( I mean elephant foot breaking LOL ) ..

But no major issue at this stage ( YET )
gonna go grab some Picks of the controller For ya



WARNING CRAP DRIVER ALERT

My Controller setup ....Not pretty ( downright Ugly more like ) but after all the lessons have been learnt I will re do the layout ( relays may come out and simpler wiring scheme is possible .Just need to figure out how to safetly disengage motors when limit switch is tripped .

CONTROLLER
Ok system based on AMC128USB Motion controller
Motor drivers = 3 of 2 X 32 Sabertooh motor driver cards
Regen Energy Dump Via Gold coloured High Current resistors Mounted on very crude heat sinks
6 off 45 amp car relays to Cut power to all motors if limit switch activated
3 off 45 Amp Resetable Fuses in Motor controller Supply lines

PSU
Psu = 2 Off PowerEdge Server supples ( 56 amps??? @ 12 V ) need to check nameplate details
configured parallel to give 12V Out at > 100 amps with 2 x 50 amp fuses in circuit that allows a 12V Car battery to be connected in parallel if required ( not presently used ) and 2 Schotkey Diodes to prevent Regen Energy from rapid reverses getting back to PSU
OK the above Supply set up has some Lower values fuses But this was done to make sure my FRY Factor was low LOL

Check out the Circuit sketch in an earlier post to see how it should have looked

YAY NEW VIDEO !!!
Haha thats brill matey You weren't wrong about the crap driver think you have forgotten how to change gear Looks like you were loving it tho

Now being serious I have had Zero issues with my POTS losing position they are just fine never skipped a tooth yet. I think once you crank up the power you may start to see some other gremlins appear, I really hope not though

Cheers Craig , pooping pants time cant belive I fly my paraglider at 2000 feet no problem . sit in this monster and Wussy pants time ..Either that or fear of breakage ...
im gonna look at my design ref the Pot drive belt , spped wise I really don't know how fast is fast , maybe being new to this has lulled me into it move so its right sorrta mindset , having bumped up the spped has bee a WOW moment thts for sure ,

will be buying Dirt this week to really stress this baby out ( this time im not calling me a baby) its the platform LOL,, dirts a bit more expensive than I thought so was hoping for steam offer time fingers crossed.

the video was only to show some of the updates tweakwise .. she is still in one piece and just need to sort out the slight steering lag ( bad driver again maybe ) but even with this baby no t fully dialled in MAN I IS HAVIN SOME FUN said slang styleee

general shout out , is there section on the forum with PC system specs for comparison , I notice some people list there's in the post Footer

'Crap Driver Alert' OK..recommend selecting Auto Gearbox . . IMO, I don't think you have given the rig a good workout yet (heave is still quite soft for a F1 car) , so maybe a reason why you haven't have any issues - although lets see what @SilentChill finds. Note that there is a setting where you set the G meter for a crash and when triggered it will 'Park' the rig.

What Autogear Box LOL you mean they have that and I've not found it ok it will be all driver aids on if it keeps me on the dam track for now,

Hi @SeatTime is there some setting I need to bump up to get the heave setting to give sharper Bumps and rumble, your on Holiday so it can wait till you get back ...

Have not messed with the AMC128USB default PID settings ( currently only have the P set @ 25 , I =0 ,D=0) so that could explain why I'm getting of lightly with the whole system in terms of Current and speed etc ..

Is there any particular car / Track combo that will give me a rough ride to check out the heave and rumble ( yeah I know my driving should do that LOL ) but want to feel this while on the tarmac

this PID lark takes some getting used to so the learning curve continues .. Guess now is where I start to see the weaknesses in the system so if you guys hear screaming ----- it means I broke the dam thing ..

Like I mentioned to Silentchill I may well have lulled myself into thinking its moving so it must be OK .... these next few days will tell if that's the case ....Speed being ramped up to max over the weekend

I will do a video of what I'm putting mine through tonight so you can compare It will not break though, mine has had a hammering and only things which are hurting are the motors and drivers so far. Once I put fans on the 2x32's they have been cool as you like but I have been able to hit over 100amps in hard reverses with the PWM set to measly 150

I think you really must have your setting set to ermmmm "Baby mode"

Hi @wannabeaflyer2 - Its really your choice in how hard you want to drive your rig, but as @SilentChill drives his rig allot harder there can then never be a comparison. Just for Info - My PID on the Thanos Board is P - 27 I - 9 D - 5. Max On-Line Motor Speed 95%. BFF Heave Setting below with Heave set to 20%. I Ship out on Saturday - . Good luck Guys . As for tracks Assetto has some good laser scanned ones - don't know about Project Cars?

Have not started chased times as yet, although I would guess I would need some serious practice to get close to you. I really do enjoy that track once you learn it - very satisfying and with the rig turned up anything close to realistic it really takes it out of you to string together a smooth run.

Hi Guys I must be lucky ( not knocking it ) just taken some clips of my Clamp meater readings and they More or less agree with the Amp meter I have built into the main controller of my sim .... unless I am reading this thing wrong without any one in the sim ( only one pair of hands this evening ) I put the system in auto drive mode round Nordshlefee ( bet that's spelt wrong in PCars ) and check the current seen by meter on couple of actuator motors ...these test were only a few minutes long but I think they give an indication ...

Amp Meter ( hall effect type to read DC current ) clamped around one lead of the actuator being checked ..
Sim started in auto mode ..
Controller Started and Motion going Full tilt ( Speed Turned up using @SeatTime s tips for setup and indeed things got lively ..
as you might just make out from the video below the meter recorded max currents of circa 22 -25 amps ( theses were blips as the movement and direction changes were very often )
Still not Got Car battery connected in parallel so there is some headroom if I need some more ompfh..

Check Saberrtooths ( would class as cold due to short test duration )
Motors I would say are at Ambient
I have one actuator where the tube is misaligned so this one rattles a bit ( this will be swapped out some as the parts turn up )



Not sure if this helps But hope there is something you can use @SilentChill