I'm in the design stage of a large router, and I'm thinking it will require dual drive for the x axis. One concern I have is what would happen if one motor fails for some reason? Will the machine damage itself? I've been thinking about creating a mechanism to alarm and shut the machine down should the two motors get out of sync.
With the drive only on one side, there will be some twisting when routing in the x direction. That twist will result in a slight position error. Dual motors like the design in the builders post 1010 with linear rails will eliminate that twist.
Any chance you can share more pictures of the z axis/assembly connections I like how you've kept the distance offset from the c-beam gantry minimized the way it's mounted. The pictures are too dark to see what it is that you've done however and I'd love to see more of these details. I'm working through a move to linear rails for my gantry and z and haven't come up with an idea for the mounting of the z assembly that I like all that much and have been conscious of not creating a great distance away from the gantry beam to avoid the longer lever. thanks
There is only one motor on the X axis in this build. I have a workbee with linear rails upgrade (and single X axis motor), although some twist of the X C-beam is inevitable if you push the machine hard having two motors will not eliminate that. My machine is accurate to at least +/- 0.1 mm in all materials from soft plastics up to mild steel. Alex.
Maybe I'm confused on how this site works. I was responding to the build I mentioned above. If you look at the pics, you'll see two motors driving the x axis. I'm in the process of gathering information before proceeding with my build, which is why I asked about the two motor design.
I see 2 motors on the Y axis, 1 motor on the X and 1 on the Z. Y axis in front to back, X axis is side to side, Z axis is up and down. I believe you may be confusing X for Y. There are 2 Y axis motors.
As Alex and Craig have pointed out, you're getting your axis confused. If you look at the parts list he's using 3 1000mm actuators and says in the build log "Added 2080 v-slot to support 3rd 1000mm actuator for x axis" So moving on, yes you want two Y motors so the X gantry doesnt twist. To answer your question on if the machine will break... at some point it will bind up and stall. And motor failure inst the only reason why. A loose motor coupler will do it to. Ask me how I know
My old small 12x12 router and the accompanying SW defines X as the axis perpendicular to the gantry. From now on I'll refer to it as Y. I was considering designing something to detect a sync issue if there was a failure in one half of the dual drive system. The reason I asked the question was to see if something already exists.
Not that I'm aware of without closed loop steppers. But I've never had the need to research it. Under normal operation the motors dont get out of sync. Its only during a rare failure of either the wiring, drivers, nutblocks or couplers. I've had my machine for 4 years and it only happened once.