Driving XY / Z axes with timing belts?

[Nihilianth]

Hello guys,

I've assembled a cyclone2 recently and did some tests cuts on PCBs and acrylic. Now I've started to look for some possible improvements to reduce the vibration / improve the overall performance. 

Recently I've assembled a belted extruder for my 3d printer and thought it might be a good idea to use the same principle for driving the XY axes on my Cyclone (replacing the herringbone gears with closed-loop belts).

I've noticed the timing belts being mentioned in some of the the previous threads, but it seemed to be just a theoretical discussion :)

Has anyone tried to replace the gears with belts? If so, did it do any good to your Cyclone? :)

[Carlos García]

Hello Nihillanth,

The version 2 has flat gears in order to minimize that problem.

I think there is still some backlash but it is due to the radial bearings/nut assembly.

I haven't seen any Cyclone with belt couplings so please let us know if you try so :D

Regards,
Carlos

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[Rodi]

Hello Carlos,

oh, didn't know they were made flat for that reason D: I've replaced the "stock" ones with herringbone gears from v1 after reading some articles on backlash. 

I've actually had some issues with  power not being transmitted properly / motor shaft spinning inside the printed flat gears (I am using round motor shafts).

Replacing them with herringbone seemed to have solved that problem.

I have some small closed loop GT2 belts (2GT-158, 2GT-188) aswell as pulleys for the motor shaft layout around. 

Will probably assemble everything later today and see if it has some positive effects :)

Regards, Rodi

On Thursday, November 20, 2014 2:09:55 PM UTC+1, Carlos García Saura wrote:

Hello Nihillanth,

The version 2 has flat gears in order to minimize that problem.

I think there is still some backlash but it is due to the radial bearings/nut assembly.

I haven't seen any Cyclone with belt couplings so please let us know if you try so :D

Regards,
Carlos

On Thu, Nov 20, 2014 at 1:01 PM, Nihilianth <r.mar...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Hello guys,

I've assembled a cyclone2 recently and did some tests cuts on PCBs and acrylic. Now I've started to look for some possible improvements to reduce the vibration / improve the overall performance. 

Recently I've assembled a belted extruder for my 3d printer and thought it might be a good idea to use the same principle for driving the XY axes on my Cyclone (replacing the herringbone gears with closed-loop belts).

I've noticed the timing belts being mentioned in some of the the previous threads, but it seemed to be just a theoretical discussion :)

Has anyone tried to replace the gears with belts? If so, did it do any good to your Cyclone? :)

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[Carlos García]

Aah I see, so Harry's version with 3 screws grips better to the motor shaft..
Yeah I'd encourage you to flatten the shafts in any case as it is a machine with lots of vibrations.

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[Rodi]

Today I've had some time to print / assemble the belt drive for X/Y axes. Left Z Axis alone for now as I don't have small enough belt loops atm.

I'm using a 20 T pulley for the motor shaft and a 60 T pulley on the motor.

Here are some of the pictures.

I need to fix some issues first (replace steppers with stronger ones, figure out why my feed rate can't be over 100mm/min, do something to the wobbly tool holder),

then I can do some serious testing and upload some comparison videos.

First impressions tho:

The movement is really silent, no more clicking sound from the gears / hum and whatnot. There is also much less vibration, most of it is coming from my spindle now.

 

[Iceflow]

Wow, looks really nice indeed :D a little less "reprap" but pretty one!!

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[Rodi]

Just an update on my experiences using the timing belts.

With the early setup seen above (metal 20T pulley, 60T printed pulley and 188mm GT2 belt) I've hat troubles with steppers stalling at moderate / low feedrates (about 120-180/min or so).

So I've ditched them and went with two printed pulleys with 1:1 ratio (as opposed to 1:3 ratio used before). This also made the firmware changes I've had to make obsolete, as now all I had to do is to replace the gears with pulleys and flip the stepper connector.

I am using two 45T pulleys and a 158mm GT2 belt. I've attached some pictures of the setup aswell as a video (https://youtu.be/bdu1vz6ndGs).

I haven't experienced any issues with belts slipping or whatsoever so far. I did not, however, make any backlash-related measurements (as I am unsure of how to actually measure that), but in theory timing belts should be less likely to cause backlash as opposed to gears afaik.

I've sourced the belts from here (GT2 158mm 6mm wide closed-loop timing belts) http://www.robotdigg.com/product/352

[Carlos García]

Wao, the motion is so smooth and quiet! Those belts are really cheap :D

And the pulleys are printable ^_^ Thanks a lot for sharing!!!!!!!

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[Samuel Kranz]

thanks for the update :D

Am Freitag, 10. April 2015 13:44:47 UTC+2 schrieb Carlos Garcia Saura:

Wao, the motion is so smooth and quiet! Those belts are really cheap :D

And the pulleys are printable ^_^ Thanks a lot for sharing!!!!!!!

On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 1:22 PM, Rodi <r.mar...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Just an update on my experiences using the timing belts.

With the early setup seen above (metal 20T pulley, 60T printed pulley and 188mm GT2 belt) I've hat troubles with steppers stalling at moderate / low feedrates (about 120-180/min or so).

So I've ditched them and went with two printed pulleys with 1:1 ratio (as opposed to 1:3 ratio used before). This also made the firmware changes I've had to make obsolete, as now all I had to do is to replace the gears with pulleys and flip the stepper connector.

I am using two 45T pulleys and a 158mm GT2 belt. I've attached some pictures of the setup aswell as a video (https://youtu.be/bdu1vz6ndGs).

I haven't experienced any issues with belts slipping or whatsoever so far. I did not, however, make any backlash-related measurements (as I am unsure of how to actually measure that), but in theory timing belts should be less likely to cause backlash as opposed to gears afaik.

I've sourced the belts from here (GT2 158mm 6mm wide closed-loop timing belts) http://www.robotdigg.com/product/352

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[Dieter Smith]

Hi.Thank you for sharing.

Must say i am very pleased with the results.

The 158 mm G2 belts are not expensive, was easy to print. 

I also think the machine has less backlash.

Great improvement!