4 Comments
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Avik De's avatar

Great article, thanks! While they have this reputation, cycloidal reducers can't practically be "zero backlash"... there is a tradeoff between friction / stiction / binding and backlash just like with spur / planetary.

Hardware FYI's avatar

Good call out! We’ll update the newsletter. From what we’ve read online, harmonic drives aren’t truly zero-backlash either, but they’re about as close as you can get in real systems.

Avik De's avatar

Yeah, to my knowledge that is correct! The viscous or speed-dependent energy loss is the worst for strain wave, though they can be low backlash as you say and also very compact.

Glen Turley's avatar

Blake's account of shipping 500 units was great. Manufacturing is hard, but I also admire is Industrial Design and Engineering skills, putting everything together and then learning manufacturing and supply chain to get the product over the finish line and into the hands of customers.