Inverted Dovetail Stepper Slide

thingiverse

##28BYJ-48 Mechanical Actuator #2 I thought it would be cool to see what kind of Mechanical Actuators we could make using the 28BYJ-48 stepper motor and mostly 3D printed parts. The 28BYJ-48 is a popular motor that comes with most Arduino kits, a 5v dc motor capable of delivering around 4 oz force/in of torque at max rpm of 15. You can get these motors with the driver for around $2 each. ##Direct Drive Inverted Dovetail Stepper Slide This remix of the original dovetail design has the gib built into the carriage instead of the ways, allowing for longer travels as the gib moves with the carriage. While accuracy is reduced slightly due to the loss of adjustable backlash, this design still delivers precise results. ===================================================================== Dovetails slides are not well-suited for long travels or fast speeds but excel at high accuracy with the addition of a gib to the dovetail way. This direct drive slide features a drive screw clamped directly to the shaft of the stepper motor, which provides smooth movement but may experience slop due to the motor's axial load design. The max RPM of the motor is 15, and the pitch of the drive screw is .5", resulting in a max speed of 7.5" per minute. The motor can handle roughly 7 lbs of weight on the carriage. Using grease on both the drive screw and the way can significantly increase load capacity and life cycle. After running for a few hours, the slide shows impressive repeatability, with only .01" deviation from location. The mounting holes on the base, carriage, and endplate are standardized to allow for easy assembly of multiple slide units into a two or three axis cartesian system. ===================================================================== ##Required Components M3 Nut (12x) M3 SHCS x 6mm lg. (4x) M3 FHCS x 10mm lg. (2x) M3 SHSS x 16mm lg. (3x) 28BYJ-48 Stepper Motor To obtain the necessary components, you can visit my Amazon affiliate link for a set of five stepper motors and drivers at https://amzn.to/2KJI6yz. For more information on this project, watch these videos: https://youtu.be/Yq39Y9Z1tzk and https://youtu.be/WCNtUWE9mQ0.