Is a second motor needed for the other side of the Y-car?
 

In you CNC profile cutting thread, by requsting others to Cut 4 motor mounts in one go, you have left the option open for guys to have a second motor for the Y car. My question is when you weigh the costs and the benifits of the second motor where do you stand. If it gives us better results why don't we think of incorporating the second motor at the start itself.

Quite frankly, the MechMate Y-car doesn't need a second motor.

The ShopBots use to have a flimsy y-car with a strange "holddown" system. The cure offered by ShopBot was to install a second y-motor. Quite a few people put 2 y-motors on their ShopBots. ShopBot have since improved their y-car and I havn't heard of people using 2 y-motors for their new cars.

Putting a second y-motor onto a MechMate is straightforward mechanically, but it is just one motor too many for a basic controller. You will need another driver and there will be some experimentation to get 5 drivers working off one parallel port.

The advice to cut 4 motor mounts is based on the cost being only about $5 each.

Ok, Accepted.

Joe or Gerald,
Why the extra motor plate?

I supposed it was for a second y-motor?

If that is the case, I must point out that I ignored a second y-motor when doing the cable chain position for the gantry. You might have to lengthen the chain a bit and/or re-position the brackets.

Also realise that the "Full Options" will only work with the geared OM motors.

Gerald,
Is there any advantage to having 2 Y motors? I can see it on the X but dont know if the extra one on the Y would improve anything. :confused:

On the old ShopBot, a second y-motor did help a lot, but that was because their y-car was a flimsy, bolted-together, affair that "racked" easily. That car consisted of 2 angle irons and 2 lengths of uni-strut which formed a "collapsible" rectangle.