Quote Originally Posted by aero_storm
Aha, you misunderstand me :-

I understand how a ball-screw actuator works. What I don't understand is the switching of the drill and the actuator motor. The screw, that turns inside the threded..um..tube-thingy, is powered by a motor..You want me to substitute this original motor with a hammer drill motor?

Pros?

Cons?

Lastly, I was once warned about using hammer drills by a certain Gary Cairns. Could I not just use a normal drill?

Alex.
Pros - your actuator will be more powerful and (RPM dependent, that's why you want to choose a relatively high speed one to start with) faster moving.

Cons - slightly heavier? takes a bit of effort? Really, for this application, there aren't any.

A hammer drill motor isn't necessary, something like a Speed 700/900, RS775, whatever will do the job just fine - just that a lot of people tend to use Dewalt cordless hammer drill motors in robots for something with a bit more grunt than a drill motor.

A normal drill motor (usually a 550 size) won't be as powerful, which is the problem. His warning was against using a hammerdrill gearbox setup - you'll just be using the motor alone if you go that way. I suggest picking up a suitable motor separately rather than getting a whole drill.