I am interested in design decisions. My instinct would have been to use on motor for the Z axis and use a belt drive to drive the other. Someone pls make me wiser.
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I am interested in design decisions. My instinct would have been to use on motor for the Z axis and use a belt drive to drive the other. Someone pls make me wiser.
I'm no expert but I'd imagine it's a balance issue since the Z relates to the X carriage which has a big honking motor on one side of it. So I would imagine it'll be easier to move the Z up and down using two motors+threaded rods than just one motor that has to drive a belt as well.
Also. if you only use one motor, you would have to drive the dual z lead screws using 2 pulleys and a belt, which pretty much adds up to the cost of the motor you just replaced... In the end, it's easier to just use two motors for the Prusa Mendel design.
Eric
On the other hand, the Vellaman K8200 lifts the z-axis on one side only. Of course it isn't lifting the weight of the x-axis, since it has a horizontal xy table.
The reason for this is mostly simplicity, and as before mentioned, a stepper motor is circa the same price as the belt , two pulleys and one idler would cost, also you would need a seamless belt because of the multiple rotations one would need to lift the z axis.