Belt drive vs direct coupling pro's and cons, Poll

[Neale]

I belt-drive 2 X ballscrews as well as Y and Z. One thought was that it would give me the option of changing ratios if experience suggested that this might improve things. However, given that X ballscrew critical speed is roughly the same as the Nema 23 corner speed (not a coincidence!) this seems unlikely. The other main reason was mechanical simplicity - on my machine this made the motors easier to mount, and meant that I could tuck them into the overall machine envelope and avoid them sticking out. To get the best out of direct drive, even with flexible couplings, you need to align motor and ballscrew fairly accurately. I suspect that it's easier to adjust a belt. With the right belt and pulleys, slip is not an issue. Cost of decent flexible coupling and belt and pulleys is not that different, although I did make my own flexible couplings for my first budget router, so I have tried both approaches.