A single drive closed loop timing belt driven automation

Ok, here's the first idea.

We've still no idea if it will work.

But it's a stepper motor with a closed loop belt running across both the top and the bottom of a connected pulley (created using the online gear designer at https://geargenerator.com/ )

Those little round things are miniature bearings (4mm inner diameter, 12mm outer diameter) and threading the belt around them will not only add a little bit of tension to stop the belt "flopping about" but also - almost be accident - means that as the miniatures "connected to it" above come towards each other in the middle, just at the most critical point of contact in the joust, they'll actually move closer to each other, as if attempting a strike.

After passing each other in the middle of the arena, the characters will then move away from the centre bar, as they prepare to turn around at each end (the tournee that gives rise to the word tournament ).

So the first task will be to create this set-up and see if we can get the belt moving freely using just a single stepper motor and pulley. Time to dust off the old laser cutter and get making cool stuff again!