What is ôMiniature Motion Control Componentsö? 1

[Clyde38]

I have been participating in the Eng-Tips Forum since 2003. I have been lucky to have received a lot of useful information in the forums that I participate in. I noticed that the “Electric Motors & Motor Controls Engineering” forum though useful, seemed to address mostly large (sometimes really large) systems. Does this mean; 1) that there were not many people involved with very small motion control systems participating in the group activities 2) there aren’t many people that have questions or have valuable information relative to miniature motion system out there 3) people that are interested in this topic don’t know about this forum 4) none or all of the above? Are miniature motors, gear heads, lead screws, linear actuators, etc. in limited use? What are miniature motion control components?

[link

http://www.linkedin.com/in/clydehancock

]

[/url]

 

[itsmoked]

If the poster is savvy enough they notice that the motors forum is "large motors". They probably then don't post or do it in "Electrical/Electronic other topics".

I don't know how long this forum has been around. It just showed up in my Threadminder. Nice there's a forum for this.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[itsmoked]

I see it's been around only a few weeks.

Give it time.

This should probably not be called "Miniature" nor "components". Just Motion Control. Miniature and components are both "restrictors". For instance I wouldn't consider the servos and lead screws on my CNC router to be "miniature" so I'd probably look elsewhere.

Also, in the same vein, "components" restricts to just 'items' not systems.

You'd want to use restrictors if you had too many posters with too broad a realm. Generally not a problem with a new forum.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[Clyde38]

Keith,
Thanks for your insightful comments. They are most appreciated. It’s participant such as yourself that make Eng-Tips so invaluable to me. I do run into a whole set of “applications specific” challenges just due to the desire to miniaturize. For instance, provide high resolution shaft encoder information for a 3mm (and smaller) diameter motor. Portable devices, such as injection systems for the delivery of medicine require a combination of motor, gearhead, encoder, and possibly a lead screw for linear actuation. This all has to be provided at voltages that continue to decrease (3.3V as an example) and low current to maximize battery life.

Unless your CNC router is a “table top” version, then you probably wouldn’t be looking at this forum. If you are working on an XYZ stage to position some object under a microscope or position a needle to penetrate an embryo you might look for help in a forum such as this.

Perhaps in the future, the number of engineers involved with these types of applications will join the discussions.


[link

http://www.linkedin.com/in/clydehancock

]

[/url]

 

[itsmoked]

I see. I understand your "miniature" now. However, you still need some traffic thru here and a less restrictive title would improve that. Often a "motion controls" person might know of miniature sources even if they don't use them. So, you want to get as many motion control participants as you can - in my eminently humble opinion.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com