Does anyone have any good recommendations for linear actuators that can extend 18inches in a matter of a second and can hold about 10-20 lbs?
Was literally going to ask the same question! REV makes a good one, but its currently out of stock till supposedly mid-january. Although REV’s isn’t 2 ft extension.
You’re not going to find it COTS–automotive linear actuators are designed for torque rather than speed.
For the load, I’d entertain pneumatics or a COTS elevator kit instead.
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At that speed? Pneumatic cylinder, 1/2" bore with a pressure regulator to limit the force should do it.
If you want the calculations let me know.
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Fast actuation over long distances is more the province of pneumatics than linear actuators (assuming you only need to move between two positions).
Consider a linear actuator using 1/4-20 threaded rod as the screw. To move it 18", you will need to rotate the screw 18 x 20 times. To do that in one second, you will need to rotate at 18 x 20 x 60 = 21600 rpm.
A NEO 550 has an 11000 rpm no-load speed. A 775 Redline claims to have a 21020 no-load, but of course under any sort of load it’s going to be significantly lower, but you might get up into the 12"/sec range if it’s lightly loaded.
As it happens, I designed a largely 3D-printed linear actuator just to see what could be done cheaply. It gets about 6"/sec with a NEO550 but I also made a variant that accepts a 775 (though I haven’t tested that out).
You can find it (and a lot of other 3D printed FRC mechanisms) here: GitHub - RJWoodhead/FRC3DP
Here’s a clip of the device being powered by a NEO 550 (unloaded): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NUQg79O8sjk
It’s a quick print and build so you might give it a shot.
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Rereading your post, I missed part of your requirements.
You might also look into the StrongArm build in the same repo. That will definitely handle the load and speed, but it’s a bit of a beefy boi.
How about climber on 2020everybot?
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If pneumatics are not an option (although I agree with posters above on them being a great option for this use case and probably the cheapest) how about:
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