Discussion on New Range of DC linear Actuators

[dozerbuilder]

Originally Posted by bigford

i think you bought the wrong Firgelli's. as my lowboy dead lifts the kat excavator
and cooper's 4 Firgelli's lift the d11 and trailer off the ground and brian's haul truck
had a full bed of moist topsoil in it.

Hi Bigford, I bought 2x L-16S-63:1-140 for the blade, 4 x L16S-150-50 for the ripper and a L-16S-150-100 for tilt. These are the most powerful they sell - I can't see how they be the wrong ones? I sent drawings to Firgelli showing lift angles, weight of blade and ripper, all measured with a digital scale. They sent the drawings to their tech dept who came back with the response that "it should work nicely" before I bought them. Five have failed and it hasn't hit the dirt yet. The blade requires a pull of 6kg 13.2lbs and the ripper measures 22lbs at its lowest point over-center. There's no doubt they can do the lifts so you are correct there, they can. But the actuators themselves cannot structurally support the load/pulls that they can achieve - in my case.

Actually with starting this thread I was hoping we could look at the specs of the new type and come to some conclusions regarding their suitability (or not) for our builds. The new ones look similar to Firgelli's. I'm probably gonna build my own actuators. I ordered some high-power 150:1 micro-motors with gear boxes today, gonna see if I can mount them in some 18mm dia aluminium outer tube with an inner using acme or yankee screwdriver shafts.

[RCP57]

Those actuators look very similar to Firgelli's so I would be surprised if they were any stronger/more durable. I see they do offer some different lengths though so that is interesting(i need 75mm for my Bruder 320 and they offer it) Firgelli has some planetary actuators out now which are much more powerful. The downside is that they are running the same size shaft as the regular ones so I'm not sure if they stand up much better. They are also much bulkier. I got one of the prototype units months ago and they are very strong. Another positive is that they don't freewheel easily like the regular ones. I didn't have any projects that it would fit into at the time so I haven't been able to "mileage test it" so to speak. Might be worth a look though for certain projects...http://www.firgelli.com/products.php?id=56

[dozerbuilder]

Originally Posted by RCP57

Those actuators look very similar to Firgelli's so I would be surprised if they were any stronger/more durable. I see they do offer some different lengths though so that is interesting(i need 75mm for my Bruder 320 and they offer it) Firgelli has some planetary actuators out now which are much more powerful. The downside is that they are running the same size shaft as the regular ones so I'm not sure if they stand up much better. They are also much bulkier. I got one of the prototype units months ago and they are very strong. Another positive is that they don't freewheel easily like the regular ones. I didn't have any projects that it would fit into at the time so I haven't been able to "mileage test it" so to speak. Might be worth a look though for certain projects...http://www.firgelli.com/products.php?id=56

Hi RCP, they do look very similar. Their spec sheet on the pdf is a jpeg so its illegible, I've emailed them for a better copy so we can asses the specs. I looked at the P-Series Firgelli's as well which appear more powerful as you say with 1000mA stall compared to an L-16S with 650mA stall at 12V. I didn't choose them because the drive head is a lot bigger as you also mentioned.

The new ones have a stronger looking piston end-bit (one of mine pushed out so I had to JB it back in)though it may not be removable and threaded to 8x1.25 like a Firgelli. I've fitted joints to all mine so the 8x1.25 thread match some joints I bought. (see pic) You can see the re-wiring replacing the stiff 26awg wires with 24awg lipo flex direct to the motor terminals and bogged with JB to hold the wires to the case. Firgelli told me if the wires come off its cactus. Cactus? - the wires have come off.