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SCFirst, I added a motor. But it was slow...
Still an improvement over cranking by hand (faster, and without the rotator cuff injuries), but I knew it could be better. Finally, after 2 years, we redesigned the mechanism with better bearings and increased the gear ratio, with a smaller pulley on the stepper motor.
Now, you might be wondering why we would use a smaller drive pulley to increase speed - won't that decrease it? Yes, it will. It will also increase torque, which is what the real problem is.
At high speeds, the stepper stalls, meaning it doesn't have enough torque to turn the lead screw, so the stepper skips steps and makes a whining noise. The stepper is nowhere near its max no-load speed, so we have plenty of room to adjust the speed on the program/drive side.
With just a little more torque, the stepper can suddenly overcome the mechanical resistance and achieve way higher speeds without stalling.
What did you learn from this? Drop a comment!
#EngineeringDesign #StepperMotor #DIYAutomation #MakerCommunity #MechanicalEngineering
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