Y-Axis Design, What do you all think?

[AndrewBond]

Hi All,

Heres a picture of my current thinking for the Y-Axis carriage,

Its driven with a 20mm dia ball screw (not shown)

extrusion is 90x90 and 45x90,

Plates are laser cut 5mm mild steel,

Any comments will be much appreciated.

Andrew

[Senna]

The boxed design is good... however I only see one linear rail. Maybe I'm looking at your drawing wrong... but this may pose alignment issues under load unless the bearings (you are using multiple bearings on that single shaft?) are widely spaced on the carriage. You need the multiple points of contact to prevent racking. It also appears that the torque resistance normally taken up with a second linear rail and bearing set is going to be handled by your ballscrew. This is not good practice. The stepper or servo will not like the torque load in addition to the Y travel forces. Making that screw perform double duty is asking for problems.

Senna

[AndrewBond]

Thanks for the comments, I hadn't considered the torque force on the screw, so heres my revised design.

Andrew

[Senna]

The addition of the upper rail solves the issue. If you can support the rail as you have the lower rail it would be optimum! Unsupported rails can have their own set of problems.

Senna