Ilmenite
21-06-2020, 12:03 AM
I am planning to convert a 100mm reflector to an ALT-AZ goto system in preparation for doing the same to a 300mm reflector. It seems that getting 359 or 360 tooth worm gearwheels is out of my price range. So, I was considering trying to 3d print something which could be used for this application.
The options seem to be either a gear or a timing pulley. From what I have read, gears need to be very high precision to get good tracking, so that would be too hard to do. It seems to me that the much higher number of teeth meshing with a timing belt arrangement would overcome imperfections in individual teeth by averaging them out.
The drive would be stepper controlled, possibly with encoders.
Has anyone tried to do this? How did it perform? Is there a better way of doing this without access to a lathe, mill etc?
Would I be better trying to find a nonfunctional motorised mount and strip it for parts?
The options seem to be either a gear or a timing pulley. From what I have read, gears need to be very high precision to get good tracking, so that would be too hard to do. It seems to me that the much higher number of teeth meshing with a timing belt arrangement would overcome imperfections in individual teeth by averaging them out.
The drive would be stepper controlled, possibly with encoders.
Has anyone tried to do this? How did it perform? Is there a better way of doing this without access to a lathe, mill etc?
Would I be better trying to find a nonfunctional motorised mount and strip it for parts?