[Robotgroup] bead chain gears

[Richard Abbott]

Gray,
       I just love printers. Even when they don't work, they can still be of use. I don't know about any of the newer types, but the older ones had a cogged belt that carried the print head back and forth. They are about 10" or so long,and many of them come with a matching gear at one end, and one on the drive motor. If you need more length, you might be able to splice two belts together, and have your pulleys arranged so that they don't run over your splice. Just a thought.
  Rick

Gray Mack <gray_mack at yahoo.com> wrote:
  I still have not had any luck in making bead chain
gears. I want to use bead chain to get linear movement
from a pair of stepper motors in a frame.

I tried PC-7 compound but it was too sticky to work
with and I tried clay, but its hard to get a good
round gear where the bead dimples align when you get
around the circle. I guess I could try measuring,
marking and hand cutting some plastic. Seems like I
need some sort of protractor vice thingy, but ideally
this would be a maker type project that wouldn't
require a machine shop to complete.

Also I was trying to work with the small 1/8" bead
chain but I can get the larger bead as well. I went to
several Goodwills but didn't find the kind of
mini-blinds that have one. I guess I can press forward
with some rubber pullys for now to proof the concept,
I would just expect some amount of slip to occur over
time with that system.
Any suggestions?
-Gray


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