New Mini T-Slot product added to the SES! Now In Stock!

Lynxmotion Servo Erector Set
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I was recently pointed to a new product called MicroRAX. It’s a miniature version of the popular T-Slot product line. microrax.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www4.corecommerce.com/~twintecinc493/uploads/small%20frame.jpg

My plan is to stock these components, and make SES, GHM, Servo, and Electronics mounting plates for them. I am very excited about this. I have wanted to do this for a long time, but didn’t want to mess with the extrusion process. Now I can just do the easy part. Stamping custom plates for use with these extrusions. This will make a lot of things possible. VEX like assemblies, only, well… good! :smiley:

:open_mouth: Excited! :open_mouth:

Edit: For those who don’t want to read several pages I’m updating the first page…

It’s in stock!

lynxmotion.com/c-144-microrax.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Microrax Combo Kit

Microrax Stick - 35.4" (900mm)

4-hole 90° Joining Plate (10)

3-hole Joining Strip (10)

4-hole “T” Joining Plate (10)

5-hole “T” Joining Plate (10)

6-hole 90° Joining Plate (10)

4-hole Square Joining Plate (10)

4-hole 90° “L” Joining Plate (10)

Steel Button Head Screw - 3mm x 5mm (50)

3mm Dual Nut Plates (25)

Roller and Screw (4pk)

Aluminum Servo Bracket Two Pack

Potentiometer Mounting Bracket (pair)

Aluminum Motor Mount for GHM 1 - 4 / 12 - 13 / 16 (pair)

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WOW! cool! This opens many doors. I can see a biped hanging rack, a mouse trap, a rover base, a control panel, a mech warrior… :laughing:

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Looks like miniature 80-20 aluminum!

Might be interesting to use.

Alan KM6VV

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Ok, so here is a drawing showing some of the parts I’m proposing. I figure many simple parts are easy, but I expect we will be adding more unique brackets as we find uses for them. :wink:

mtslot01.jpg
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Very nice! One thing I’ve always seen as lacking in the SES is angled brackets for 30 and 45 degree angles. Having these anglular brackets in the SES would sure add many new possibilities. With these, I could see making a completely SES version of an ASTRID type robot, and would remove many reasons for fabricating custom brackets. I’ll be watching your progress on these new brackets! :smiley: These MicroRax sets are going to really add to the SES wonderfully!

8-Dale

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Taking a closer look at this new product I can already see that this will make fantastic chassis material for all kinds of wheeled or tracked rovers. In the proposed bracket image, you can see a GHM bracket ready to bolt on motors. 8)

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The system must use their nuts. I was hoping one could just add a 3mm nut to the part, slide it on and tighten, but even the half height nuts do not fit.

You can add any SES part to the system by enlarging some of the 0.094" holes to 0.125". One interesting note here. Many of our earlier non-SES brackets will bolt right to this system. Anything with a 0.125" / 3mm hole will attach. I’ve built a simple linear motion project using a CR servo and a pot. Note the pot is to be replaced with a 10 turn version. The MXL pulley we have for servos has a pitch diameter of 0.815", so a 10 turn pot will deliver 25.6" of travel. Porting the pots output to one of the Atom Pro’s analog inputs you can get 1024 points along the 25.6" of range. Gets you a resolution of 40 points per inch, or 0.025" per point.

IMG_2560.JPG
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Sort of gets the creative juices flowing eh? 8)

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Heck yeah! I have a project in mind I would like to do using this material, but I want to use GHM’s with encoders to do the linear motion. Hight resolution is not important for my project, but it has to be able to get with in 1" of its target area and not crash at the home switches. :smiley: :laughing:

My idea is to clamp a metal clevis to the belt connected to a slide assembly. kind of like a rubber belt driven garage door opener, where the belt is attached to a locking seggment that pulls the door open or closed.

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Ok I had a little fun over the weekend! I made a linear slide assembly. It was really easy to cut the members to length. It’s a two step process; cut then sand. First you measure and apply a piece of masking tape on the part you want to cut. The tape stays on the keeper part. You cut it with a band saw about 30 thousandths long. Then using a table belt sander you finish the process by sanding the last bit off. The result is a perfect cut part.

I made this demo 12" x 6". It’s almost 6" of throw. The belt I had was a little small for the full 6" of range. But using a 10 turn pot it is possible to go up to 25". I plan to make a 12" and a 24" table. Maybe not the 6" one as it’s not a lot of throw. Alas it’s all I could make with the on hand parts.

I attached the flanged ball bearings to the base rotate part. They will have some nylon washers added to ride inside the groove, but for now it’s actually the flange that’s riding in the small grooves.

The 10 turn pot is not designed for the loads on the shaft, but this is not intended for light industrial use. More like science fair entry. :wink: However there is no reason motors and encoders couldn’t be used instead.

Here is the image.

linar_table01.jpg
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And here is the video.

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You may begin posting posts regarding the awesomeness of this now. 8)

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Interesting. I’d consider driving with servos on both sides.

Alan KM6VV

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Very nice demonstration Jim!

It would be even better if you mounted an arm on that base too :wink:

Only imagination sets the limit for what you can make, but also the available tool and building blocks. This T-slot product sure opens many new possibilites.

Awesome! (satisfied James? :stuck_out_tongue:)

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yes, put a shaft on bearings at the far end with a second belt setup on the side opposite side from the servo also driven by the shaft. Then the base would be moved from both sides and avoid getting cocked under load. Drive the pot off of the end of the shaft.

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No, no… that’s the next project. An X-Y table! lol :smiley: But yes that would make it more robust for sure.

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It looks cool but I don’t know if I am seeing this right. It looks like the base is dragging on the beams. I can’t tell if the base has any clearance so that only the bearings are ridding in the slots? If the base is rubbing at all then this is not good. A close-up of the bearings in the slot would be useful. :smiley:

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Mike, I’m deeply saddened that you would even think I would make a linear slide without bearings. :blush: The first image and video had the flange of the bearings riding in the small groove of the extrusion. But yesterday I made “washers” to add to the bearings so they could ride in the larger groove. It works very well. Here is the requested image. :smiley:

linar_table02.jpg
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The Base Rotate is attached to the belt using one of our ASB-02 parts and a tie wrap. The bracket is attached to the base part with double sided tape. This could easily be fastened with hardware, but requires drilling a hole. It would probably make more sense to attach to the bottom of the belt, but I got in a hurry.

linar_table03.jpg
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Cool, that looks much better. Is it possible you can find a bearing that will fit in the larger groove with the center hole facing the groove? This way the bearing will roll inside the groove rather than 90° out. You have it like this —> =] the bearing axis is perpendicular to the ground. Can you change it to this? —> || ] the bearing axis is parallel to the ground. With the bearing axis parallel to the ground, the base assembly can take downward loads much better.

Just a little brain storming for you. :smiley:

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I’m working on it. :smiley:

I only said “wonder why no one commented to my post?” :blush:

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Jim,

Have you determined what thickness of material will properly fit within the t-slot channels? Using the supplied CAD models I measure the gap as 4.59mm or 0.1807in. Have you tried installing any 0.125in thick material or might a less common material thickness be necessary for a secure fit? I’m still anxiously waiting for my order so cannot test this myself :frowning:

Awesome work on the linear slide assembly! Make sure to look through the catalogs of standard sized t-slot suppliers for ideas of what you could implement with the MicroRax at a smaller scale. 80/20 especially has a huge variety of unique accessories ranging from hinges to handles to brackets to folding joints and even pressure attachments where the t-slot member itself functions as your pressure line!

8020.net/interactive-catalog.html

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What I have in front of me measures 5.08mm at the opening, and the flat inside the opening is 2.5mm. You can use 3mm material, but you will want to make it a tad long so it gets nestled snugly in the grove. Note even when I buy “1/8 inch” material it’s 0.118" which is, yep, 3mm. :wink:

Not sure if it’s a tad, or a smidge, I get those two mixed up. :stuck_out_tongue:

Yes, I have been looking at that site. I have already designed several new plates (brackets) for this system. Waiting for price quotes. I feel pretty confident that I can finally make my servo powered mars rover model with this stuff! :smiley: