DIY Linear Actuator design

Hi Guys small steps but thanks to @SilentChill I have been able to make the gear I need for the Hall sensor as future replacement for my actuator that currently uses 10 Turn Pots for feedback . early days yet as I still need to design the supports but get to play on the CAD station at work tomorrow so will put it to good use Lunch time ( Of Course LOL )..
Printing the parts was easy ...Getting the dam Brim off was mega pain but think I have the right settings now so will redo the smaller gears next print session ..

Hi Guys Small update , but before I go any further gotta say Big big thankyou to @SilentChill for sharing his Reduction gearbox concept and for the 3d printed Gear set ,, thanks to his design I was able to Print off a Wannabe version LOL ... I take no credit for the work he did just wanted to say thanks good buddy . I have attached a couple of pics of the 1st test unit ,still needs some fine tuning , but for all intents its a nice concept prover ..

I made some minor changes using the gears that @SilentChill created and they worked a treat . all I did was Bond the 2 gears together to make a combined Gaer seen in the middle of the gearbox and this runs on a 6mm shaft with bushes in the support block , ( I have acces to a lathe so it was easy to do ) .. the main smaller drive gear is Clamped on a 6 mm shaft to which the Belt drive pulley is Pined .. and the hall sensor and 2nd stage gear will be supported by just the 12mm nut and clamped to the other support upright . ( my thnking was the load on this wont be too much and should not stress the hall sensor bush type bearing ------that has yet to be proven .. as with all thing , once I verify this works i'll post the files for anyone that care to use and improve .. but have to say the design @SilentChill created works fine ..3d Printer and Cad truly are an addictive combination too much tinker potential and designs change no sooner than you print the dam things LOL ...Massive High Five Craig

Doh Almost for got to mention the parts used are only for modelling at this stage , the correct sensor and belt drive gear will be in the next photoshoot LOL and and more importantly Drummmm roll please ....YES YES YES my Rift is Here at last .. they switched delivery days on me and was back at work so had to go pick it up cos I could not wait LOL .....

Awesome work mate any improvement is always better

Could do with it all being more compact but it works and that's the main thing.

Look forward to seeing you in action matey

Doh I may have come unstuck with this as I forgot my Hall sensors were 180 degree version :-( buger ... Love this idea so will have to invest in 360 degree sensors .. LOL the beauty of the CAD and 3d printer though does make redesign easy.. its not out of the question to mess about with another combination of gears so will keep you guys posted either way ..cheers Crew

Just be mindfull of what quality of Hall sensors you purchase and how you mount them - I've only ever had two pots go on me in my rigs and they were both Hall sensors - basically the shafts bound up and seized from very small lateral loads - I just buy good quality wire wound pots as the 'good' quality Hall's (designed for servos) are very expensive. My current actuators have just good quality pots fitted and have been operating fine for over 18 months - with a small lateral load.

That gears kills two birds with one stone , less revolutions on the shaft, but also no lateral load over it.

Perhaps you should go all digital sensors (hall effect contactless 360) AEAT-6012-006:
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/broadcom-limited/AEAT-6012-A06/516-2341-ND/2210458

http://motionsim.freeforums.net/thread/218/sensing-quality-full-scale-platforms?page=4

Thanks
Thanos

Cheers @Thanos funnily enough these 189 degree halls were the sensors I bought fmo you all those years ago when I 1st got my amc128 controller:_-) they worked well for the wheelchair Gearmotor sim attempt but since moving to my linear actuator I have been trying to come up with a way to use then.. @SilentChill opened the door so im seeing if at long last I can make use of them again, Hey and congrats with the Kickstarter looking forward to using the new controller here,,,

Great design! Any chance sharing the stl files of the gearbox to remix it?

hi @Mmcool the design is now at v3 LOL and will freely post the drawing and STL files after I tidy it up, wanted to make sure I had the gear spacing correct so that the gears run freely with min backlash .. but by all mean remix it as you say, once I post the files that how we all move forward here ... remember I have over designed this as I had a load of precision bearing and just incorporated them in this for the hell of it to see how the 3D printer would perform..( it impressed the crap outta me that's for sure) gimme a chance to take the files off my other PC and i'll post them here tomorrow.. Cheers

He's back ! great

I'm gonna need to do the same sooner or later

Hi guys as promised I just tried to load the stl files but realised they aren't on of the recognised upload formats, so i'll have to add it to Thingyverse and will post the link as soon as that's done .Cheers

Just zip them up matey

Cheers for the Tip Crew Ok here goes let me know if it opens ok guys

I tried to open it with slic3r:

What program you are using to read that file? Can you export it to STL that can be sliced or edited for remix?

Mike

My printer came with CURA as the slicer and not really messed around with any others as it currently does the job for the few bits I have made to date. their should be a Stl file in the unzipped document ...it may be *.amf which I think is some sort of Microsoft file extention as I recall I was able to open the file in windows 10 (works PC )

No Stl file in zip. Only an amf document.
Doesn't work in Cura 2.6...
https://ultimaker.com/en/community/35655-amf-file-support

Why not STL file that all slicers support?

Mike

D/L Mattercontrol load the amf file and export as stl : http://www.mattercontrol.com/

im using Cura 15 I think its supplied By Wanhao My 3D printer and it opened it so I just left it as is .. i'll have another look and get back to you ..

Hi @mariano68 thanks for the link