Anyone else with a double belt setup fighting with slack on the top belt? On my machine with gt3 belts I can see the top belt moving as the carriages change direction. It will pop up off the bottom belt but some times not really become unaligned the the teeth on the bottom belt. Other times I can follow it from under the wheels of the and it is interlocked but at some point it will there will be slack in it. Hoping it's not related to my bottom belts.
no, used fairly thin double sided tape. I was thinking about this today. Have people had success with this?
Yes, and no. My ox is still a work in progress but I figured out fairly quickly that unless the gap was filled, holding the teeth in the belts together beneath the wheels the upper belt would slip relative to the lower one which is what it sounds like yours is doing. The problem came however in trying to get the belts to stick to the foam tape. Something about the belts having low surface energy causes them not to want to stick to the acrylic 3m foam tape adhesive. I finally worked out a system of applying adhesive to the back of the belt, letting it dry and then sticking the tape to the dried adhesive. This created a much more stickable surface. But this is where I stalled out and haven't gotten back to it.... The tape should be in the 0.040" to 0.045" thickness range for the gt3 belt.
I had the same problem with slack in a single belt. In the end I layed my hands on a buckle arrangement like adjusters on ruck sack straps, one could use one of these at each end of axis. One for top belt and one for the other belt. They are simply a 1.5mm 5mm wide strip of steel with two squares cut out that make up the buckle and a fixing hole.
I have just finished my upscaled OX and came here for the same problem: slack on the belts are giving me ovals instead of circles, in a 45º axis. Being familiarized with 3D printers I know that this is a simptom of slack in one or both axis. My question: why use a double belt? Wouldn't one be enough? If the top one is tensioned on both ends, why use the another?
It then becomes a rack and pinion. The second is glued down to the rails so it can't stretch. If the teeth are meshing then you should get good circles. Or switch to lead screws. How large is your ox? Another option if you have a large system would be to get wider belts so you have less issue with stretch.
That makes sense now for me, I mean gluing it to the rails. My cutting area is 105x160cm. Lead screws are not a option because that would mean substancial physical changes to my machine, and with those lenghts, the screws would surely arch. I'll try gluing the bottom belts, and if it doesn't work I'll have to use metallic rack and pinion I guess. I think, though, that at least a portion of the slack is on the section of the top belt that goes up to the motor and down back to the pulley. Could it be it? Thanks for replying Giarc!
I believe that the 3M double-sided tape is the way to go so the belt is slightly elevated as Rick mentions above. Double belt slack
