Question CIM motor based actuator?

I keep rolling around ideas in my head of where I want to go with my simulator setup as I've been toying with the idea of upgrading to a 6 DOF to work better with flight sims. Actuators seem like the cleaner setup, though at a pretty high cost. Even home built ones seem to run several hundred dollars apiece, which when multiplied by 6 adds up fairly quickly. I was thinking of going with a wiper motor style setup as I have a pile of them already and use 2 on my current rig, but the more I use them the more I feel they aren't really the best suited for the job.

That got me thinking back to my stint in mentoring my local First Robotics team and some of the motors they used to use. The "CIM" motor appears like it might be a pretty nice fit for simulators at ~300W and dirt cheap comparatively speaking at $30-40 depending on where you find them (specs here: https://www.andymark.com/products/2...MWU2OWZkZg&Pinion Option=No Pinion&quantity=1). At a nominal 12V that wattage puts it right around 30A, which is also pretty reasonable for motor controllers like a JRK or Sabertooth. I know the peak stall current value is off the charts, but you shouldn't really be operating there anyway.

I actually ended up thinking about them as I was considering motors for DIY actuators and found that at one point they actually made an actuator using one of these motors, though unfortunately it's been discontinued (specs here: https://www.andymark.com/products/dart-12-in-actuator-kit). You could get them in different gear ratios, but the main specs I'm seeing are 12" of travel and ratings of ~200 lbs at ~6 in/s to 80 lbs at 13 in/s. That seems like it falls in line with typical numbers I see around here, though maybe a little on the lower side. However, those specs are with ACME lead screws with 50% efficiency, not ball screws with 90%, so I'm thinking they might have even better performance, though at the cost of back driving. The main issue I see with them is the motors are more for intermittent duty, but they are pretty much a staple in the robotics field and abused daily, so I feel like they would probably do okay. You can also buy heatsinks for them as well. Curious if anyone has even used one of these on a DIY actuator and how they might have performed.

I actually managed to find motor curves for this particular setup and suffice to say I was pretty significantly wrong on the whole "not using the 100A+ side of things". Evidently the ~300W power rating is actually the usable work output of the motor, not the electrical power (ie. rpm x torque, not V x A). This thing has peak power at 2670 rpm, but sucks down nearly 75A at that rpm to get there, so I think that's back to the drawing board for me. I could bump up to a stronger motor controller, but it would also mean upgraded power supplies, so it turns into a bit of a snowball. Would be interesting to know how these work if you cap the current you feed them, but I'm not really sure the motor controllers work that way.

A Sabertooth 2x32 got soft current limiting to cut the power from 0 to 64 amp hope this helps
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A sabertooth 2x32 dont cut power but regulates power
I used these cim motors for my sons seatmover in rhe past with nema 23 planetary gearboxen and made a adapthing plate on a lathe for them. but in my mind they have a full duty cicle below 200 watt
i think youre bether of with ampflow motors members made 6 dofs with them

Yeah, I was unsure how to read a motor curve if you were limiting current. I didn't know if the available torque just flatlined once you hit the current limit or how it might otherwise affect things. The other question/concern I had was how the Sabertooth would deal with it since I know my 32A models can boost up past that for a few seconds for peak loads, but it seems like that could cause some jerky issues if the motor is trying to pull more, the Sabertooth gives it a temporary boost, then cuts it back even though the motor is still asking for it.

I'll have to look into those Ampflow motors though. I did find another motor similar to the CIM from the same manufacturer. It has a peak power at only 47A, which is more in line with what my controllers would be comfortable with at least. Torque values seem like they could be a decent fit, but hard to find them to buy anywhere. A part number search is only taking me back to the company's datasheet, and I'm guessing a large Chinese company is likely not going to sell to a US individual all that easily.

For what it's worth, the CIM motor is part number 25r-44f from what I've found (maybe with a -100something at the end). The other one on their sheet that looks promising is the 25r-22f. Only 243W max, but at 47A at a little more RPM, which seems better suited to ball screws anyway (RPM vs torque). 24V probably makes more sense in the long run if I want more/need more power at the same amp rating, but power supplies get a little trickier to find. I know you can wire server supplies in series, but it's a bit sketchy. My preference would be to run a single supply per Sabertooth just because of the way they work.

What speed are you aiming for?

Honestly, I'm not really sure. I've read some of the recommendations, but they tend to refer more to linear speed of rotating actuators, and even then I think they generally refer more to seat movers and the like, not so much 6 DOF platforms. The arbitrary number I picked in my head was ~300 mm/s loaded as a target. From my understanding the SCN5 is only around 150 mm/s loaded and 400 mm/s unloaded, so it would seem like I'd still have the upper hand.

That being said, I've also read where most people tend to end up turning their motion profiles down after building them because they are quite a bit more violent than they really want, and I've never been in a 6 DOF to really compare. I think I'm mostly just more interested in getting some good fidelity and more realistic motion in a 6 DOF actuator setup. My current 2 DOF platform mover is just a bit too jerky and I think underpowered for the geometry. It's still reasonably fun and gives a novel feel with racing games, but the few times I've tried it on flight sims it seems pretty lacking and just wrong feeling from what I'd expect. I think flight stuff needs more smooth motion and racing needs more quick stuff.