Why not brushless motors in direct drive extruders?

[Catalin_RO]

@zapta said in Why not brushless motors in direct drive extruders?:

This is probably a matter of demand. With sufficient demand, this can be a much lower cost IC. The question is, is it useful for large scale applications?

Demand builds up when there is a real need for such a solution. I see a need for it in completely different applications, but not in a 3D printer, not even in a prosumer one. In a professional one, maybe!

Has anyone complained about the steppers limiting the performance or the quality of the 3D printers on this forum? I have not personally checked, but from already 4 years of browsing I don't recall anything significant. Of course, I'm not discussing about faulty steppers or super cheap steppers assembled in a barn in China (by the pigs grown up for feeding the family over the next year) or poorly chosen (wrong size for the job) ones. There are very good quality steppers at very decent prices, most of them manufactured in China. And they are not even difficult to find.

So with a relatively low demand, combined with the high current involved in those drivers (120A peak current! those transistors are anything but cheap!) I don't see the solution getting significantly cheaper. Overall you must also factor in the high current power supply. 24V at 60A is almost 1.5kW peak power for one of these motors. While the average required power is significantly lower, the PSU should be ready to handle those peak currents. Look at this just for reference - https://www.onlinecomponents.com/en/mean-well-usa/rsp200024-43879729.html.

As for recognized professional solutions, check this servo with integrated driver - https://www.sorotec.de/shop/JMC-Servo-Motor-with-integrated-driver-100-Watt---36-Volt---3000-1-min.html. Significant torque with very high speed as 36V and 6A peak current.

[zapta]

@catalin_ro, I don't know much about the technical aspects or the market potential, to have an opinion.

BTW, Skyentific on youtube often deal with low speed, high torque motors for his robotic actuators. It's an interesting channel. These are high pole count motor, sometimes with additional gearing.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Skyentific+actuator

[Catalin_RO]

@zapta Quite interesting. Those might be suitable for axis 4 and 5 in a prosumer CNC...

[zapta]

This video has a teardown of such an actuator. Plenty of poles and a planetary gear for torque, and a smart builtin controller.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhxz2Bj2RXA&t=615s

It's not light and not cheap but interesting.

[rjenkinsgb]

@zapta said in Why not brushless motors in direct drive extruders?:

Skyentific on youtube often deal with low speed, high torque motors for his robotic actuators.

Those are clones or descendants of the MIT "Cheetah" robot actuators.

They were originally a modified open-loop motor for a large drone, with a hall position sensor and epicyclic gearbox included, to allow them to function as fully commutated BLDCs.

And, they specifically have the ability to be back-driven to accept the weight and shock loading in a robot limb application to emulate biological muscle & limb elasticity, without a high-ratio gearbox that would be damaged by such loading.

The originals are clearly visible in this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkfXW6XMXao

James Bruton came up with a lower cost DIY version, using generic drone motors with belt reduction rather than the custom epicyclic gearing:
https://youtu.be/Id11PWxnd4M?list=PLuzW8n0FM__UQutfHUF7jf4jbZwmWM1L6&t=196

[Pertti]

Thanks for everybody showing interest around this topic. Looks like reducing weight increases costs as usual.

[Pertti]

Ha-haa, here it is,found in Hollow shaft extruder thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0SuaIMxAs0

[o_lampe]

@Pertti Now you can enjoy your "told you so..." moment. Only 18 month later
ODrive was a starting point, but simpleFOC took the edge off cost-wise. (and it's open source)
Too bad, there are only a few driverboards available. Most of them are DIY projects, which we have to order from jlcpcb.

[Pertti]

@o_lampe I like this group because of this habit of sharing and commenting innovations.

[CNCModeller]

@Pertti @o_lampe I've bought the shields from here in the past and they seem to be good quality. It only takes a couple of weeks to arrive in the UK

SimpleFOC Shield v2.0.4 FOC BLDC servo stepper motor controller brushless motor driver board develop card

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPDYIZC

[o_lampe]

@CNCModeller These are the official boards, but there are a few designs from forum members. Some are all_in_one boards with STM32 MCU, motor driver and magnetic or optical sensor. None of them are for sale, only by JLCPCB-order.

[CNCModeller]

@o_lampe yeah I have a few different ones, including ones I've got from JLC but for anyone wanting to just have a go they're perfectly usable.

[o_lampe]

@CNCModeller I'm currently playing around with used hoverboard motors and controllers.
There is a github group that has hacked the controller board and offers firmware with FOC, too.
Can't compare them yet with simpleFOC, but in one point they are ahead of them which is interesting for my wind-turbine project. (regen-braking)