Serious progress has been made with a new mechanical design. I decided it was too difficult for the average person to make precise dovetail slides out of wood. As nice as they look and as well as they work if made perfectly, this was just not within the ability or the patience level of the average person. I checked into the cost of inexpensive alternatives for slides. Drawer slides were a possibility so I tried just about every one available. There were problems with each although several could be used with some modifications. The industrial quality ones are very expensive so I did not even try them. “Low cost” linear slides for automation are also very expensive, even the low precision types.
So, I decided to “roll my own” and came up with a low cost design that shows great promise. It uses all stock components available online from McMaster Carr and from other sources for those who want to spend more time looking and pay less. The cost for the entire linear slide assembly is about $60 not counting the motor. A similarly suitable commercial product would be $500 or so.
Constructing this slide assembly is extremely easy. A few holes have to be located accurately in the main board but that is about it. Adjustment is simple, the critical clearances are designed in and do not require any fiddling. Once setup, it should work reliably for a long time. If service is necessary, all parts are easily accessible for a quick adjustment of parts replacement. It would take less than a half hour to completely disassemble, replace any worn parts and reassemble the slide unit. The dovetail slide required finicky adjustments and is not as quiet as the new design unless extreme care was taking in making it. I am really pleased with this new design.
The new design also has a belt guard to keep fingers linens etc out of the moving parts. A more attractive design could certainly be made that was completely enclosed. I used a clear cover to make it easy to test.
I have also simplified the wiring and have switched to the use of commonly available cables. If one wears out or is broken it can be replaced in seconds.
Another feature that will be available when I make new control boards (or make a simple change to the existing ones) is the ability to connect any number of machines together to be controlled by a single joystick or PC. Simulfucking is an amazing experience.
I believe this design will be possible for beta testers to make once I draw up a few templates and finish the basic construction guide. This should be done within a week most likely. So if you are one of the interested parties, please contact me.
That looks like a well worthwhile improvement, and I would really like to get started soon, and do upgrades as they come along later.
Tony
The holidays will slow things down a little. Visitor arriving soon so… I do hope to get the basic plans done in the next few days and will then make an announcement. It should not take me very long to build a few circuit boards. If many are needed, there will be a delay of a few days to get them. Printing the three custom parts is also not going to take long. I need to decide what parts are too difficult for the average person to buy on their own and will also provide them in the initial beta tester’s kit.
Wow ! Great Job!
This seems to be the best selfmade fucking machine.
Did you use a Nema 34 Stepper ? How much torque has the drive ?
Daniel
Hey guys,
Did anyone find out how much torque is needed for this design?
Robert.
The motor I am using has more than enough torque. It is rated at Constant Torque:50 oz-in Peak Torque:350 oz-in I have to limit tht current to the motor to make it safe to use. A smaller motor would probably be fine but I have not tried one. I should.
I just thought that I should do some speed testing to see how this machine compares to the Shokspot. I think it will show that it is much faster. Will report back when I do the tests. I need to write a benchmark firmware for testing.
How big of a dildo can this motor handle. I’m into extreme anal and looking for a motor that can reliably handle huge dongs with around 3 kilos of weight.
the nema 24 double stack motor has a lot of torque. would have to check data sheet. the double stack nema 34 motor i have on the “unstoppable” machine will handle anything you might want. it will not move as fast as the smaller diameter motors but fast enough for most purposes. any motor will stall against an unmovable object.
Thanks for your quick reply. How many strokes per minute is the nema 34 capable of? Seems they are a good bang for the buck (pun intended hehe).
stepper motors can not move instantly (like any motor) and need to be accelerated (ramped) up to speed. reversing direction involves decelerating to 0 and then accelerating up to speed again in the opposite direction. so strokes per minute does not only depend on the speed and the distance traveled but also by the rate of acceleration.
for some extreme examples. at a stroke of 100 feet it would be very few strokes per minute. even if it was moving pretty fast. most fucking machines are rated at strokes per minute at a fairly short stroke of maybe 4 inches. the nema 34 motor might do 150 strokes per minute at 4 inches. the nema 24 would likely go faster. at a very short stroke of lets say 1/4″ the machine would be vibrating if the speed is high and the strokes per minute might be 1500. also need to decide if a stroke is one way or is it in and out to the same starting position.’
the shagmatic code uses a fixed acceleration for all repeated motions. if you want to optimize the acceleration for a certain speed/stroke and motor you can change the acceleration and can probably get more strokes per minute. the joystick control accelerates at whatever rate you move the joystick it is not further limited by the firmware. so your ability to accelerate the motion by hand twill determine the strokes per minute in addition to the limits of the motor and speed at which the encoder is read.
Thanks! You gave me a big help in decision making!
When my build is ready for presentation, i will upload some information here.