I am planning to buy the Rigid R22002 router that is typical for this project.
What parameters should I be looking for in a motor?
What brackets should I use to mount the motor to the sled?
And what sort of cable should I use to connect the motor to the shield?
And what shaft coupler?
The most important thing to look for in a motor is that the output shaft is offset from the center. There is not a lot of clearance between the motor and the router so the offset is important. It should also be reasonably torquey.
Fortunately the gear boxes for this type of motor are fairly standardized so finding one with a similar profile to the one we use shouldn’t be too difficult.
The brackets we use are custom made for the task, but similar brackets can be found on amazon. I believe that this one will work: https://www.amazon.com/Mounting-Bracket-TOOGOO-Geared-Coupling/dp/B01EYDB6L0/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1513189853&sr=8-12&keywords=gear+motor+mount
The cable and shaft coupler we use are also custom made 
The cable uses an XH type connector on the end that connects to the controller board and the other end needs to match the motor.
I’m happy to take a look at any given motor if you have one that is a candidate
How about something like this for the motor?
What would be the target RPM?
I ordered four of the 90-degree worm-drive motors from you, since they seem difficult to source. Each comes with a cable. I don’t suppose one of those cables would work?
And in case you guys don’t hear it often enough. This is an awesome project. I can hardly wait for my online-ordered parts to start coming in…
That motor should work great! The 11rpm model will be slower than the stock one, and the 22rpm model will be faster. I chose one which is slow and has a lot of torque to work with just about any router, but I bet you could go faster and probably be better off.
You can absolutely use one of the extra cables from the big motors, that’s a great idea! You will have to cut one end off and splice it to the cable on the motor, but that’s pretty easy.
Thanks for the kind words! We’re along for the ride too at this point 
It’s been so much fun to see the weird thing I built in my garage given life by this awesome community. I can’t wait for your parts to arrive either 
. Happy build!
Remember that this then goes into another gear reduction (the lead screw or belt
drive)
This increases the force available and decreases the speed.
both of these are more powerful than the ‘main’ motors
So I would suggest going for something significantly faster
It may even be worth trying for the smaller size with the 200 rpm version (but
that is a very large jump) I’m pretty sure the 66 rpm version will be powerful
enough and still two sizes smaller than the 11 rpm version
Many people are finding that their 3D speeds are being limited by the Z axis
speed
David Lang
Ok, I’ve got the motor on order. Its output shaft is 6mm in diameter. Do you happen to know the diameter of the depth-adjust shaft of the Rigid R22002 so I can find an appropriate shaft coupler?
If I remember correctly the diameter is 3/8" of an inch. I found a 3/8"-6mm coupler on McMaster that is the same style of coupler as what comes with the Z-Axis kit. You may be able to find them cheaper than that somewhere else.
If I were to buy one of these motors, can someone help me with coming up with the value for the encoder steps per revolution? Is that the only parameter I would need to update? I knocked my sled over while working on it and am pretty sure i took out the Z axis motor in the process (wont pass the motor test on 1.00 or 1.02).
Have you had a chance to install your motor? Which speed did you end up buying? I am considering a change in motor to speed up the z-axis.
Thanks.
Unfortunately not yet,
I am still waiting on some parts for my sled, and the motor I ordered had a different connector than the standard z-axis motor.
Ultimately I decided to buy the z-axis kit from Maslow, and will be using that, at least initially…
I got the 12v 35rpm model.
I’d be interested to see if the motor you bought is a drop in replacement for the stock z-axis motor. I’ve seen some posts on minor wiring differences with motors, but the solutions seemed very straight forward, so I am optimistic.
Thanks!
Did anyone get to try the 12v 107rpm model?