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pop up panel - servo? spring? any suggestions?
PL1:
--- Quote from: tony.silveira on May 22, 2012, 10:45:14 pm ---pl1 / darthpaul,
either of you up for some hand holding with a newb when it comes to servos? in all honesty, it seems like a different language...
thanks
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tony.
Darthpaul is going to be the best one to help since he's got practical build experience with servos.
I've been working and playing with mechanical devices, electronics and wiring for 30+ years, and understand basic servo theory, but haven't done much hands on with them.
Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.
Scott
PL1:
Here's an update/refinement to my earlier popup 2 diagram.
Light blue = CP
Dark blue = Keypad
Gray = Right angle arm
Black spot = Pivot point
Green = Upper limit switch
Red = Counterweight balanced to return the panel upright as it retracts
Yellow = Slider track path
Scott
tony.silveira:
i sincerely appreciate everyones feedback and thoughts. i love the ideas thrown around but i think they may be just beyond my skill set
i think i may be over analyzing this. i came up with the following. basically it just flips over and is held in place by rare earth magnets. here is my thought:
now if i could find a way to have this flip over automatically, i'd be set. i think if the pivot point was a gear, then a geared servo under the panel might flip this just fine.
dpaul, pl1, whatcha think?
PL1:
Tony,
How much of a gap between the front/rear edge of the rotating part and the CP can you live with?
Remember that as a flat-ended panel rotates, the longest distance is from the center of the pivot point to the corner. to make this a simple 90 degree cut, it will require a gap equal to or greater than the difference between the distance from pivot to corner and the distance from pivot to center of the flat edge. a quick check with calipers on a .75" x 3.5" piece of wood indicates that you would need at least a 1/8" gap for that panel to turn. Longer panels of the same thickness would require less gap.
One way to reduce that gap is to round the edges as shown. You may want to see if you can find curved metal edging to reinforce the front and rear edges of the CP hole-- no ideas on a source for that.
Use some heat shrink to protect and provide strain relief for the wires passing through the cutouts. Make sure that the wire doesn't get trapped between the metal plate and the magnets.
Based on where the wires come out of your keypad, this diagram assumes the front of the cab is the right side of the diagram.
The metal plate provides support during button presses.
Gray = Panel
Blue = Keypad
Red = Magnets
Green = Metal plate
Purple = Wire path/cutouts
Black = Drive gear/pivot
Scott
tony.silveira:
thanks for all of the input guys, it really has helped. i think i found a way to get the wiring thru. for the pivot point, i'm going to use a small brass tube. i'll be tackling this either today or tomorrow on some scrap wood, just do a proof of concept. wish me luck...
oh, also, can some of you experts let me know if my thinking on the wiring of the keypad is correct? pic is attached. here is what i think it is:
button 1 - use pin 1 and 5, common 8
button 2 - use pin 1 and 6, common 8
button 3 - use pin 1 and 7, common 8
so on and so on, as printed on the board.