Affordable sources for endless timing belt?

[Erick Davidson]

Greetings,
I am about finished sourcing and purchasing all the components for my plasma table project. I have been designing around the parts I have sourced. The last thing I have to get is the drive, either rack and pinion as most have done or endless belts with the servos fixed as a few have. I am intrigued by the belt option as it seems to offer silent operation, less alignment issues as well as reduced backlash and will make my gantry lighter without the additional weight of carrying the extra servos. My dilema stems around the fact that the belts themselves seem very costly. It was suggested on another thread to stick to kevlar reinforced 50mm or 2" wide belts for the gantry, etc. I want to have the option of router use at some later date as well as common parts between the X and Y drives. Does this seem like overkill? Does someone have a good source for the belts and pulleys of this width besides brecoflex? Any sugeestions? I will probably admit defeat and go with rack and pinion if this is going to cost three times as much.
Cheers, Erick Davidson

[widgitmaster]

Have you searched the Thomas Register, they catalog ALL manufacturers and such!

As for rack gears, search McMaster-Carr Supply

Eric

[Erick Davidson]

Thank you, Eric, I know of these sources. I had hoped for some first hand information from someone who had already used a particular vendor on thier project, and what they might have used.
Cheers, Erick Davidson

[NEATman]

Erick-
Breco-Flex and Mectrol both offer steel cable reinforced urethane belts. We use considerable lengths of the material, and it has proved to be quite reliable. You should be able to get a long length and simply clamp the ends, and make some kind of tensioner. You could use a movable pulley, or even a turnbuckle to adjust tension. When clamping the ends, I would reccomend engaging the teeth of the belt in grooves. Engage at least twice the length in the clamps as the belt is wide. (Width x 2 = min. engagement of clamps). Otherwise, the cables can pull themselves out of the molded section that is clamped.

http://www.mectrol.com/
http://www.brecoflex.com/

Interestingly enough, my parents were going to name me Eric, until they saw the red hair, and figured "Eric the Red" was a bad idea.

Neatman

[Erick Davidson]

HOLY %$#^@! I haven't gotten my quote back from brecoflex, but a couple of quotes came back for rack and pinions. I had already priced the rack and pinion through McMaster Carr but thought I would get a couple more as my experiences over the years have shown that McMaster typically is not the least expensive, just the most convenient and reliable, which I know is worth it sometimes. Through them the 20 pitch rack and pinions I need look to cost around $350 total. Rush Gears just quoted me $1895 for 6 feet of rack (I expect to need 30!) and $1095 per pinion (of which I need 3!) and that is for a three week turnaround without expediting! I realize that some industries don't care what it costs, I have never worked in one.
NEATman, do you actually work in a place that uses Brecoflex or are you just making a statement to the CNC community as a whole using a great deal of timing belt? I ask because I know OEMs get better pricing and where I work doesn't have an account with them so I expect to get a very high quote.
Cheers, Erick Davidson

[smilewizard]

I have several machines that use the Brecoflex "endless" belts in my facility(My real Job) and I have never replaced a belt in 8 years. The action of these machines is similar but not a cnc machine. This is why I chose them for my table (4 x 8 Plasma Table Plans) Yes the cost is higher, it is a peice of mind to know you will never have mess with these.

Andrew