Rotating monitor - Yet another take

[weisshaupt]

I got the same pan.  It just feels flimsy to me because it is aluminum.  But, I have been known to overdo things...

I am sure you could bend it if you try.  Its sturdy enough I think, it just needs to make constant contact with the motor... Sturider usually means more wieght which means larger motor, more momentum etc, etc....

[southpaw13]

Well the plate and pan together is still less the a peice of wood and the lazy suzan.  I think the secret will be to get it balanced.  If this doesn't work for me, I am going to use it as a manual rotation that snaps into position with magnets.  Wait a minute, what about an electro-magnet solution???  Way beyond my skill....

[southpaw13]

Ok, the initial building is going fine.  I am running into problems with the power.  I am sure 5v will be too much for me.  I know I can get 5v and 12v out of my computer plug, but how do I take it down to 1v or 2v or even lower?  I tried a 1.5v battery and was very happy with the results.  I think I can use a resistor, but which one or is there another way?  How about a speed controller than runs on some type of variable adjustment.  Please help, this is where I am limited....I actually want it to run pretty slow so that it doesn't bounce off the switches....

Thanks,
Southpaw

[csa3d]

Well the plate and pan together is still less the a peice of wood and the lazy suzan.  I think the secret will be to get it balanced.  If this doesn't work for me, I am going to use it as a manual rotation that snaps into position with magnets.  Wait a minute, what about an electro-magnet solution???  Way beyond my skill....

If you are using the Secret Motor Driver, you should note that the driver chip requires 5v to operate.  You might want to wire up your setup using pulse modulation (advanced setup #2) and see if you can slow down the rotation that way.  I'm not super sure on what would be required to slow down the motor, but I'd imagine it would be some sort of resistors in line with the motor.

-csa

[southpaw13]

I am going to get this set-up working on a switch first.  No secret motor driver yet.  I am just looking to reduce the voltage to get this set up to work.

Thanks,
Southpaw

[weisshaupt]

Ok, the initial building is going fine.  I am running into problems with the power.  I am sure 5v will be too much for me.  I know I can get 5v and 12v out of my computer plug, but how do I take it down to 1v or 2v or even lower?  I tried a 1.5v battery and was very happy with the results.  I think I can use a resistor, but which one or is there another way?  How about a speed controller than runs on some type of variable adjustment.  Please help, this is where I am limited....I actually want it to run pretty slow so that it doesn't bounce off the switches....

Thanks,
Southpaw

USE Pulse Width Modulation to turn the motor on and off rapidly. You won't be able to get a reliable result from a resitor without building a Transistor based feedback circuit. If you insist on doing it in hardware use a 555 timer circuit (there are dozens of examples on the net)  but otherwise you are better off doing it in Software using my (or someone elses) program. 

[psychotech]

Or you could just buy a variable voltage transformer, something like this: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=96864&doy=14m4&C=SO&U=strat15

Should work just fine (I'm using one at the moment on mine running 4.5V to the motor, works nicely on 3V also..)

hope this helps

[southpaw13]

Yes, I got the same idea at Radio Shack...Now I just need to test it....

Thanks...