Hi all - new here and hoping I'm posting in the right section. My objective is to build three adjacent linear motion systems. Two will open and close large patio doors (approx 4.5m travel each). The third will move a sliding door in the same plane as the patio doors but on a separate track set just in front, upon which a TV is mounted, this track is 14m long. From what I've researched it seems a belt driven system would suit best. But I've not come across something as long as this. I'd really welcome any advice on whether tracks can be joined together to achieve longer travel, and for instance whether long enough belts are widely available. Although the patio doors and 'TV door' are both heavy, they take very little effort to move on the track, once underway at least. So whilst I don't think my application is of an industrial strength I guess this is going to need more guts than a typical 3D printer type set up. I'd really welcome any guidance. Many thanks
Getting them underway will be the larger issue here. To be clear are you saying the doors and tracks already exist and you are merely looking for a way to move the doors?
I'm thinking the same thing, already have the track, it's the door slides, so you just need a pulley and motor at one end and an idler pulley mounted at the other end. Probably best to use a 10:1 geared stepper or even just a geared dc motor and use limit switches to end travel and a rocker switch to open-stop-close Geared motors here I think a stall torque of 1800ozinch would be good you want it to be slow I would think. I would want to use a stronger belt than gt3 something like 10mm wide T5 belt you would just need a loop that connects at both ends to the door. Use a reset-able current limiting breaker on the motor circuit so you don't kill the cat, or burn up the motor (while killing the cat) For the TV are you looking to suspend the track from the ceiling? and yes you can join 1.5m sections easily. But never having done this i'm just spit-balling Gary
Hi - yes that’s right. The patio doors exist and are in place. The ‘TV door’ hasn’t been built yet but I already have the track etc. So I only need the motors, linear track and pulleys etc.
Great thanks Gary. I’ll take a look at those links. Yep I need it all to move pretty slowly. The patio doors are part of a set of six where three cascade over each other. I only need to motorise the centre one each side as this then picks up the second one as it moves along but if they go too fast they really crash into each other. I was think 50mm/2 inches per second maximum. The TV door could probably be double that but I don’t need speed. Particularly if I can set it up to hit a button and have it travel to a set point on its own. Thanks for the Cat tip, actually it’s a Labrador but he’ll appreciate that !
I think your on the right track with the belt but this would be another good use case for and OpenBuilds rack and pinion system. We are experimenting with some ideas here for a rack that will work well with the OpenBuilds system but alas this is in the works. All the best with your build, looking forward to seeing how you make out.
