Mike and Mark,
I've been pondering about the drive system on my router and this type of belt system seems like it should do great instead of ballscrews, because of price and precision mounting tolerances for ballscrews.
The router I'm trying to build will have around 1200x1350x150 usable working area and ballscrews price for that envelope is quite high.
Mike - you mentioned this system is mainly desgined for speed but can't compare with the rigidity provided by ballscrews. Can you translate that in a more simpler way for me/us , meaning : good for wood routers but not for milling aluminium moulds lets say ? I'm trying to uderstand the capability of the system regarding light and heavy milling instead of just cutting wood. If it is not apropriate for ALu milling, than I guess I should go for ballscrews.
Mark, what kind of work are you planing to do on that machine ? You think it is ok to do Alu milling with the belt system ?
Another thing - regarding backlash : here is an ideea with the potential to unecessary complicate things but maybe reduce backlash. Instead of using one 25mm belt - why not use 2 parallel 16mm belts with the teeth offseted just a bit so when the 2 pulleys (2 pulleys - 2 belts) turn - you can be sure at least 1 belt is engaging imediately if the other has backlash due to belt shape mating or pulley backlash. When the motor will turn in the other direction - the belt that had slack previously will engage imediately while the other belt might have backlash. Sounds unecessary ?
Regards,
Florin