richards
10-22-2006, 02:29 PM
Ted,
Thanks for posting your new blog. It answers a lot of questions. I was totally surprised to see a photo of your belt-driven gear box. When I first saw it, before reading the text, my first reaction was, "What the ... is going on here?" (Mormons aren't supposed to swear, but we all have lots of "..." going through our minds.) It looked so much like the one that I posted awhile back on the forum. After reading the text, it was I who was chagrined. Having never seen a PR machine, it was I who designed something that was a twin to your gearbox.
I also was very interested in your desire to find belt-driven gearboxes in the 5:1 to 10:1 range - since that's another project that I've been working on. The high ratio boxes would work perfectly with some servo motors that I've been testing. However, with a 9:1 box, the step rate needed to give feed speeds in the 8-ips range and jog speeds in the 12 to 15-ips range are well above the step rate generated by the Alpha controller - unless I put the encoder on the output shaft of the gearbox instead of on the motor. From what I've read, that could cause oscillation.
At any rate, having your blog to keep us informed about current products and possible trends will keep people like me from wasting time and money re-inventing a part that is already available or was previously available. Getting a glimpse of what you're doing is informative.
Thanks for posting your new blog. It answers a lot of questions. I was totally surprised to see a photo of your belt-driven gear box. When I first saw it, before reading the text, my first reaction was, "What the ... is going on here?" (Mormons aren't supposed to swear, but we all have lots of "..." going through our minds.) It looked so much like the one that I posted awhile back on the forum. After reading the text, it was I who was chagrined. Having never seen a PR machine, it was I who designed something that was a twin to your gearbox.
I also was very interested in your desire to find belt-driven gearboxes in the 5:1 to 10:1 range - since that's another project that I've been working on. The high ratio boxes would work perfectly with some servo motors that I've been testing. However, with a 9:1 box, the step rate needed to give feed speeds in the 8-ips range and jog speeds in the 12 to 15-ips range are well above the step rate generated by the Alpha controller - unless I put the encoder on the output shaft of the gearbox instead of on the motor. From what I've read, that could cause oscillation.
At any rate, having your blog to keep us informed about current products and possible trends will keep people like me from wasting time and money re-inventing a part that is already available or was previously available. Getting a glimpse of what you're doing is informative.