Replacement drive system for early 2000 PRT's

[Bob Eustace]

http://youtu.be/7AAq8SpJT-w

Performance increase quoted is rather impressive.

[bleeth]

Nothing new round here about the option of using 1:1 motors and a custom gear-box to upgrade your PRT Standard.

I put together the complete parts list a few years ago as well as complete dxf's for the do-it-yourselfer and as I recall 1 or two guys did it. The motors come straight from Oriental and all gearbox parts except the plates from Misumi. All parts total cost around a grand or so. In fact I still have one complete kit (unassembled) including motors as I went full Alpha upgrade instead.
If a unit already has a 4G upgrade (or custom Gecko) controller only the motors and gearboxes are needed.

And of course, Mike Richards did a gearbox conversion for his one-one Alpha to clean up resolution issues that were bad with that unit.

Don't know what GC is asking for his kit, but it is likely reasonable priced for the amount of work that goes into it.

[steve_g]

I ended up with Mike Richards 3:1 belt reduction units on my 1:1 alpha…
It Made a big difference in cut quality. Awhile back Gary posted some pricing here.
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15760&page=3
I don’t know if they are still current. This method is a very viable method of upgrading an older system to cut like a newer one!
SG

[bleeth]

Note that actual performance is also limited to how your gantry is built. An older style PRT gantry wouldn't be able to actually cut at 12 ips through much solid wood due to it's inherent instability. Even my thouroughly up to date PRS gantry won't handle much more than 6ips with a 1/4" bit without bit breakage, although I could possibly tweak feeds and speeds to handle a bit more.
Nice thing about belt geared system is the smoothness and high torque. I like the connectors for the inputs on his controller a lot. SB should have improved their "tiny" connectors a long time ago. But, there is no room for additional drivers in the box for accessory motors like an indexer.
No doubt though that for someone with a 4G or later standard PRS they will get very good improvement in performance. An older unit with 4G will see a lot of improvement in jogging but only some in actual cutting.