Experiments with a Linear Motion Track 

pro tip: watch movies on flixzone. Been using them for watching loads of movies these days.

@Nathan Axel Yup, been using Flixzone} for months myself :)

@Nathan Axel definitely, I have been watching on flixzone} for years myself :)

hello

same wonder

It all comes from eBay. The platform is laser cut acrylic but you can use anything as long as you get the linear bearing blocks mounted squarely

Arthur Guy Okay thanks a lot!

Andrew Nel For the underside attachment I used a tensioner for a 3d printer. I can't find the link but its fairly common

Andrew Nel Here it is, www.thingiverse.com/thing:130235

eBay all da way

Same here

Hi, I am afraid I don't have any specifics for any of it and you really don't need them as each part is quite flexible. You should buy the metal bars as long as you need them and then make sure the belt is a little more than twice the length. For example if you get some bars 30cm long make sure the belt it at least 70cm. I'd also be careful about getting the bars any longer than 50cm as they will start to flex, if you want something longer you will need to go thicker.

Thanks for the reply! I got myself an 8mm by 400mm rod and all the set up as you did but I couldn't find the piece were i connect the other end into, I know you made tours yourself from 3d printers. Do you know a better or similar alternative to that, that I can buy? Second of all How do I connect the belt to the moving plate, Do I just glue it there or is there a part to screw the belt in place? Thank you so much. You made my CNC much easier to build now thanks a lot!

I don't think I 3d printed mine in the end, I am fairly sure I went with metal supports. What you want to look for is a linear rail bracket, www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SK8-Bracket-8mm-Linear-Rail-Shaft-Rod-Support-CNC-3D-Printer-/191188099867 The belt was attached by clamping it to the underside, a piece of plastic held it tight. You could even screw a piece of wood down to hold it inplace.

hi

how r u

I am afraid I don't have a list but at the beginning of the video I go through the various parts I am using. I believe all the parts except the motor controller came from ebay

Thanks Arthur, great project. Raz

@@razdotan9756 hello

You could use a microcontroller like an arduino to read your analog input. Then just program it to move a stepper motor with the logic you provided above.

+Manasseh Elson Yes but you won't be able to move as much weight. It will also be under constant strain to maintain the position of anything on the track

a simple screw and washer is plenty.... some use tiny nuts and bolts.... TINY NUTS AND BOLTS ... WATCH AND CLOCKWERKS SIZE EVEN....

It would work but it's not as accurate so i'd probably want some kind of feedback, a position sensor or a rotation sensor.

trank you, i´ll try with stepper

steppers are easy to control precisely, very reliable through simplicity, and relatively cheap. but also quite heavy and they dont provide any feedback. so a skipped step will offset the zero point. a geared servo motor with a high resolution rotary encoder can be much lighter, for the same torque, and possibly faster. but it's more expensive. usually steppers are your best bet, unless you need low weight, high speed, and micrometer acurate feedback.

thank you for your suggestions.

Alexis Jaramillo

+Denis Atkins everything came from eBay, it's a case of trying different search terms and seeing what's out there. At least that's the way I did it.

Muhammad photography I believe it was a nema 17 stepper motor

+chaffino79 they all came from eBay

+Melina Reynoso it needs to be tight enough so the teeth can't slip on the gears, that's the only thing you need to worry about

And it needs to be loose enough for the stepper to still drive it. (Depends a lot on your motor / controller.) -- Too loose will cause missed steps because of belt slack, and too tight can cause missed steps because the stepper doesn't have the torque you need.

adithya n s sathish Not sure what that is but for something like this you really need to be using a stepper motor or possibly a servo motor otherwise you will need to use a feedback circuit so it knows where the platform is.

thanks a lot sir

I am afraid there isn't really a list. You need some rails to mount everything on, linear bearings to run on them and a stepper motor and belt to drive it.

what is the thing moving?? how can i made one of those?

Benidick Bernardino Do you mean the camcorder or the plastic platform?

the plastic platform

Its just a piece of plastic. I laser cut it to make it as accurate as possible but all you need it a surface to fix the linear bearings to, this can quite easily be wood or metal. The notch on the back can be ignored as this was going to be for the limit switches.

Why do you say that? The teeth of the belt will be under a bit more compression but I can't imagine its a problem, especially as that technique is used on a lot of devices

Arthur Guy My intuition is the same as Valery's. The force on the belt where it contacts the bearing will be all on the tips of the teeth, which given enough force will deform the teeth and probably put different amounts of strain along the belt.However, it's not like you are using it for CNC.

Eric Davies Thanks, I will keep this in mind for next time

not really mine last 5 yrz

It's not a problem in most situations.

Looks like you didn’t get a reply did you ever build one?

+Markus Björk I am afraid I don't know the specs, it would be a NEMA 23 motor but I don't know what power it was. These would have come from 3d printer suppliers so it should be quite generic.