Hey folks, I am planning to use one of those screw-driven linear actuator bundles (most likely 500 mm c-beam linear actuator bundle) to horizontally move a load that weighs about 16.5 kg. So, the actuator will constantly be subject to a radial load of 16.5 kg (~160N). Do you think the actuator can handle it? If not, what would you recommend me to do?
It'll actually be subject to a torque load- depends how far out the 16.5kg is mounted. The rail will be fine, not sure about the wheels. ~40lb might tend to put flats on them over time if it isn't moving pretty regularly, at least the Delrin ones. Not sure about the polycarbonate "xtreme" ones, they'd probably be fine.
What do you think about the screw? by the way, the load itself is a flat rectangular tabletop. One idea is to use two of those actuators with the hope of them sharing the load (see the image below. shaded blue represents the table/load) However, I am not sure about the radial play of these mechanisms. If there is no radial play, the system will be overconstrained thus resulting in overloading of actuators from side. Do you have any idea?
There really is no actual number on these wheels and the reason behind that has to do with load vs. longevity. You might get them to work at a very high load but you wouldn't get very many cycles out of them. Or with a light load you might get tens of thousands of cycles from them. I honestly wouldn't trust them to more than 1.25kg per wheel if I was expecting any reasonable lifespan out of them. As for parallel actuators I would suggest either C-Beam® Double Wide Gantry Actuator Bundle or a 6 wheel version of C-Beam® XLarge Linear Actuator Bundle
What do you mean by 6 wheel version? Can I just go ahead, get 2 extra wheels and use them as I wish? From your message, I am assuming that double wide gantry already comes with more than 4 wheels as well. Am I correct? In that case, I guess one actuator would be enough. I am hesitant to use parallel actuators because I don't know how much misalignment/radial play actuators can handle.
Ah, should've led off with the diagram. I had envisioned something completely different. Now I see what you mean, though that would be axial loading of the wheels, not radial (radial is best-case-scenario). What's the price difference between this system with one or two C-Beam actuators and say, a pre-fab 15mm rail and 12mm ballscrew actuator? Those things are cheap these days, and profile rail will hold 40lb like it's nothing all day long in a much more compact space than V-wheels- as Rick says, you'd probably need five wheels per side on the Delrin ones. Downside is the rail and ballscrews do require periodic oiling. Depends what the project is I guess, as to how inconvenient that is. Edit: you probably could get radial loading of the V wheels as well, actually- a pair of vertical gantries on each side connected by the table would be significantly stronger.
That gantry plate can be used with 4 or 6 wheels. You will need one of them to have an eccentric spacer so it's best just to ask the shop to price the unit with 6 wheels. Not sure why they don't as they price the XLarge C-Beam Gantry Kit as 4 and 6 wheel versions. The double wide gantry comes with 8 wheels but I would hesitate to use as a single unit due to the narrow gauge of the wheels being potentially unstable side to side under such a heavy load.
I feel that I didn't do a good explaining my question. Sorry guys. Let me clarify things a bit more. I was planning to use the actuator bundles as is. Do you think I should replace 8 mm lead screws and NEMA 23 motors (default parts of Cbeam bundles) with larger diameter ballscrews and motors? If so, could you recommend me a few suppliers with ball screw actuators that can fit inside/connect to cbeam kits directly?(I moved to united states recently, still trying to figure out supply and brand options) As for radial loading, I am referring to the image below. Actautors in my case will move the load horizontally. so they need to carry the load's weight (~16.5 kg) in the direction perpendicular to the screw travel direction.
