Linear Motors?

[mklb]

Has anyone here used Linear Motors made by Anorad?

http://www.rockwellautomation.com/an...xycore/lz.html

I know some guys who repair and upgrade pick and place machines for the semi-conductor industry and they swear by these motors. Obvioulsy their use is much more critical than most, but the motors do have some definate advantages.

I work with wood, and keeping sawdust out of the screws is a problem that you would not seem to have with these motors.

I would need to know if they can be operated by step and direction, or if they would have to be closed loop with feedback. My neighbors, the pick and place guys, say that step and direction controllers are available for them. These guys are very sharp, but they are not familiar with running cnc machines with no feedback from a parallel port.

Hopefully some of you guys can bridge this gap and let me know if I can use these with Mach3 or not.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

mklb Linear motors are like round motors rolled out flat. They can be very expensive and not too expensive. Look for the "no cogging" type or at slow speeds you might have jerky motion, particularly at points where one axis is hardly moving and another is moving faster.(circular interpolation and narrow angle linear interpolation) For less dust problems, face opening down, mount brush or rubber closures over opening in "U". Do your homework and you will find much less costly linear motors than Anorad.

[mklb]

Richard,

Thanks for the info!

Yea, I haven't looked alot, but Anorad did look pretty expensive.

I am still not sure about the controller though. Do I need a special controller? Surely I do, I just can't imagine how a Gecko would drive the thing. Is there a non feedback controller available, and does it accept step and direction inputs like you would get out of Mach3?

I have seen one on ebay for $250.00 that had 36" of travel. That would be ideal for me. I know that I can just get a longer magnet to increase the length if I have to. If the controller is not to expensive, it could be a good alternative for me. I usually have at least $150.00 in the ballscrew and the stepper motor anyway.

Where do I find out about the controllers?

Royce Bunnell
www.obcues.com

[Jason Ross]

Normag from Baldor makes an unwrapped stepper motor as opposed to an unwrapped servo. With any servo system like Anorad you will need an expensive linear encoder to drive it. With a linear stepper you can run it open loop.