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- Two-Axis Fixed-Motor Gantry
- Materials and Equipment
- Print the Parts
- Assemble the Gantry
- Limit Switches
- Cable Drag Chains
- Circuit
Two-Axis Fixed-Motor Gantry
How do you control a two-axis linear gantry system? The simple solution is to use two stepper motors, one attached to each axis. The harder solution: Use two fixed-position stepper motors with a crazy, winding belt. There are advantages each way. The former is simpler to design and build; however, the motor mass is attached to each axis, which is not ideal when the axes are changing direction quickly. In the latter design, the motors have fixed positions, so the motor mass is not attached to a moving axis. The control is more complicated, but this makes it interesting, which is also an advantage!
Materials and Equipment
Power
Motors
Processors
- Arduino UNO R4 Minima
- Raspberry Pi 4 Model B or Pi 5
Rails and Plates
Other Hardware
- M4 bolts
- M2 bolts
- Hand tap
- Cutting oil
- Timing belt (1) and timing pulleys (2)
- Idler pulleys (6)
- Limit switches (4)
- Joystick (1)
- Resistors
Print the Parts
See here for the 3d-printing tech that I use. The part models for the gantry are available here. The assembly also uses the cable drag chain here to keep wires from tangling under the gantry when it moves. Print two cable drag chains.
Assemble the Gantry
- Tap M4 holes in each end of the three rails using the hand tap and tapping oil.
- Roll the v-wheel plates onto the side rails.
- Bolt the end caps onto the side rails using M4 bolts.
- Screw the magnet stand onto the center v-wheel plate using an M2 bolt and the magnet stand washer.
- Roll the magnet stand v-wheel plate onto the cross rail.
- Bolt the end caps onto the cross rail using M4 bolts.
- Bolt the cross-rail end caps onto the side rail v-wheel plates.
- Bolt timing pulleys to the stepper motors.
- Bolt the stepper motors to their mounts.
- Place idler pulleys and bolt them into place using M2 bolts and idler pulley washers.