I have been wanting a Z-knob for my shapeoko for a while. Moving that axis up and down by hand is a huge pain. I typically do it with my xbox controller run via software but the unit isn’t always on, and it is often faster to turn the motors off and rough things in by hand. Why not make one?
I generated a gear pattern in inkscape and overlaid a circle that would cut out most of the depth of the teeth. I only wanted some small knobs sticking out for grip. There are probably better ways to do it, but I am still not an inkscape guru. The results were pretty cool though!
The plan was to drill horizontally through that beefy shaft, and tap it for a number 10 set screw. I tried to press the knob onto the shaft of my NEMA 23 Z-motor and it wouldn’t go. I reamed it out a tiny bit with a 1/4″ bit and tried again. Once I finally managed to press it into position I realized I could stop. Instead of going through with a set screw, I should stop. The press fit turned out to be really good. I turn off all the motors and it did a bang up job moving the stage up and down. Success came early!
