1 Topic by timp610

  • timp610
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  • From: buffalo ny
  • Registered: 2012-11-27
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Topic: Belt driven z axis?

I have been thinking about designing a belt drive or possibly a filament drive for the z axis.  This would/should eliminate all the banding issues.  With a gt2 belt and a 16 tooth pulley that should result in 10micron resolution which is 0.01mm.  You can change the firmware to have the z motor not sleep and stay active so the platform is held in place.  Anyone tried anything like this?

2 Reply by ronsii

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Re: Belt driven z axis?

No need to change the f/w the very nature of stepper motors is they hold in place smile

Interested to see what you come up with for a design.

3 Reply by timp610

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Re: Belt driven z axis?

I was thinking about making a bracket to retain the mounting points on the frame.  The hole in the platform will leave space for a 6mm wide belt but it wont be much.  The belt would only run one side through the hole and I would make some kind of belt clamp to bolt to the existing holes in the platform.  Here is what I came up with for the motor mount.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o218/TRP951/beltzsolidoodle.jpg

4 Reply by 2n2r5 (edited by 2n2r5 2013-06-25 12:33:15)

  • 2n2r5
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Re: Belt driven z axis?

http://www.sdp-si.com/web/email/conidrive/ You should consider these belts and pulleys. They are steel reinforced belts. I'm thinking about these as a possible drive upgrade myself*.

*if I can find belts narrow enough and hubs small enough

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

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5 Reply by nlancaster

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Re: Belt driven z axis?

2n2r5, Conidrive only comes in size HUGE!  those are 10mm pitch belts. smallest pully is bou 50mm.

6 Reply by 2n2r5

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Re: Belt driven z axis?

nlancaster wrote:

2n2r5, Conidrive only comes in size HUGE!  those are 10mm pitch belts. smallest pully is bou 50mm.

Ha, I just found them yesterday but I didn't have a chance to look at the specs. I noticed that they were a lot bigger but I was hoping to find that there were smaller sizes available.

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

2n2r5's Website