Backlash Eliminator Question

[darryl]

It's a motor, it's instantly reversible and provides high torque in either direction, and can be capable of very short reversal times. Power steering.

I wonder if there's a way to keep the hydraulic actuator within the confines of the machine itself- it seems to me that one way or the other, some of the length of the actuator will have to stick out.

[skunkworks]

Look up moog proportional valves... I think once you price out the whole system. (pump, accumulators, valves, cylinders, plumbing, filters (both pressure and return) ect...). Servos/ball screws look mighty fine...

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

When I think about this I think of shock absorbers on vehicles- they are subject to continuous pounding and relatively high speeds. The shocks on my Land Cruiser are original and have almost a half million miles on them. They have taken a lot of pounding and still work. It doesn't seem like there should be a seal problem in any properly designed hydraulic system.

Excellent point. It is amazing seals hold up under that kind of use. I typically drive ~3K-10K miles max a year spread over multiple vehicles so I can't even imagine what ~500K miles in one vehicle would be like

[Doozer]

Look up moog proportional valves... I think once you price out the whole system. (pump, accumulators, valves, cylinders, plumbing, filters (both pressure and return) ect...). Servos/ball screws look mighty fine...

It is called a Moog HydroPoint CNC milling machine.
It uses linear encoders and hydraulic rams with servovalve control.
I worked at Moog building electrical panels for a while,
also worked at Servotronics building servovalves.
The HydroPoints were either loved or hated machines.
Might be if the owner pulled maintenance on them or not
is the reason.
I new a guy that has 10 of them in his shop and was
making money with them.

-Doozer

[Toolguy]

I have logged a lot of hours on Bridgeport trace mills, as shown in post #14 with 1, 2, or 3 heads on the same mill. This was back when it was the only good way to do 2D or 3D contour milling. There were no CNC mills or even digital readouts in those days.

[MikeH]

The ingenuity used on some machines before computers never ceases to to amaze me.

I used to run a sliter/line shear. It had no computer, but would unroll the sheet metal, flatten it, cut the width and length, roll up the unused width that was cut off, stack the parts, count them, and shut itself off when the target count was reached. All without the metal ever stop moving! The shear that cut the length would move with the metal, so that it could cut it off without the metal stopping.

However, these machines are well beyond that.