Support forum for Mrotate by DaOldman!

[saint]

 

[Malenko]

wtf is a Mrotate?

[Hoopz]

Monitor rotate

[Mr.Ian]

Wouldnt a topic for LEDwiz and related software be more relevant ?

Not trying to jump on this idea, just feel that more people use an LEDwiz, than people with rotating monitors.


Both perhaps ?

[DaOld Man]

I asked Saint to create this not just for MRotate, but as a place to collect information for people who want to build a rotating monitor setup.
MRotate is a program I created to interface hardware to the printer port, and I usually have people emailing me for help on setting it up, and I dont mind that at all, but if we could have a collective spot for the rotating monitor info, it might be better for anyone starting out.
If you all dont think we need it, then we can delete it (or Saint can.)
 

[saint]

This is a support forum. Anyone with a product or software of any kind related to the hobby can ask for and likely receive a support forum. It's a different intent than the general discussion forums. The creator of the hardware/software is the moderator of the support forum and can use it as a home to answer user questions. Whether there are many or few posts doesn't really matter  

[Bender]

This is a support forum. Anyone with a product or software of any kind related to the hobby can ask for and likely receive a support forum. It's a different intent than the general discussion forums. The creator of the hardware/software is the moderator of the support forum and can use it as a home to answer user questions. Whether there are many or few posts doesn't really matter  

[jly]

Hi DaOldman
 Will this work with win7 64bit and gameex? I would love to get mrotate to work with my rotating monitor.

Thanks for any help. jly

[DaOld Man]

Mrotate3 (soon to be released) will work with win7 64 bit, but it takes a little extra work to set it up.
Im not sure about gameex.
As long as the frontend can tell the game's intended orientation and call mrotate3 with an argument based on that orientation, it should work.
Command line for Mrotate3 would be "C:\Mrotate3\mrotate3.exe 0" 0 is default for horizontal command and 90 is default for vertical. These commands can be changed within mrotate3's setup program.
Example: "C:\Mrotate3\mrotate3.exe vertical"
I do know someone on here made it work with a frontend which name I cant recall. I will try to find the thread and link it from here.

[jly]

Thanks for the info. I don't mind the work that's half the fun I will post some pictures of my setup soon.

Thanks jly

[darthpaul]

Here is my problem, I created a MAME cabinet with a rotating monitor and would love to do the automatic rotation using Mala but I am lost on the H-bridge/motor driver set-up. I saw a set-up using MAME to control the rotation http://206.113.145.82/mame/index.html I couldn't get the software to work so I gave up on this idea but not before purchasing the VNH2SP30 motor driver from Pololu. When I saw your fantastic work, I thought I would give it another try but I don't understand how integrate this motor driver with the motor, limit switches and parallel cable. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.     

[DaOld Man]

That link is Koz319's project. Great work!

Now back to your question:
Do you already have a motor on your setup? If so how much current does it draw?
I will have to look up that VNH2SP30 drive and get back with you on how to connect it to your motor.
Do you have a printer port on your computer?

EDIT:
I looked up that VNH2SP30 and it looks like a chip, however I did find some drives that use that chip.
Can you post a link to the drive that you bought?

[darthpaul]

Thanks for responding so quickly, here is the motor I bought, it uses a 12v power source http://monsterguts.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=105 . If you think something else will work better, I'm all ears.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks for responding so quickly, here is the motor I bought, it uses a 12v power source http://monsterguts.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=105 . If you think something else will work better, I'm all ears.

Looks like a good motor. You will need a drive to run it. If you havent bought a drive yet, I can give you a few links to buy one. This motor pulls 5 amps, so you will need a drive that can handle that.
The one in Koz319's website can be built, he has a link to the instructions on his website.
I made one and it wasnt real hard, but it helps if you have good soldering skills.
Does your computer have a printer port?

[darthpaul]

I do have a printer port, can I use the VNH2SP30, Koz319 recommended it in his web site? If there is one that will work better, than I'll use that one, I prefer to buy that build. I have been able to pretty much figure out everything I wanted to do on my cabinet, I have three rotating control panels as well,(wouldn't it be neat if they could rotate automatically), from the forums but this one has me stumped, because I haven't done very much with electronics I needed to ask someone about this, thanks again for your help.

[DaOld Man]

Check this little drive out:

http://robokitsworld.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15&zenid=896tikqhfgd15i5b4l6jvpclb5

Very inexpensive (I havent checked shipping yet, sometimes they grab you by the family jewels there).
It can control one or two motors.
Make sure the motor you want to control doesnt draw over 5 amps before you order it.
If the motor you are controlling only draws an amp or two you can check out the secret drive others on here are using (Not sure about the current capacity on it.)

Yes, multiple motor control is very possible using USB.
Just buy multiple USB IO boards if you run out of IO for your motor drives.

You could theoretically control up to 4 motors with the printer port. But you only have 5 inputs, so that could limit you to two motors, if you use limit switches that feed back to the PC.

Mrotate3 can control multiple motors from the printer port and it can do it very simple.
For instance, if you wanted to control two motors, download two copies of MRotate3.
Place them in different folders.
Name the folders "MRotate3" and "MRotate3A"
Assign each executable it's printer port pins that control it's motors drive. (The pins would have to be different for each MRotate3.exe)
Set each motor's properties (speed, time limits, etc) through its copy of MRotate3.exe (Using MRSetup.exe in the same folder as that Mrotate3.exe)
Then have your software call MRotate3.exe in folder "MRotate3" for motor #1 and the one in folder "MRotate3A" for motor #2.
They only problem you might have is trying to run both motors at once. Two copies of MRotate3 running at the same time would argue with each other over control of the port.
If there is a big enough desire to do this, I can modify MRotate3 to control multiple motors with just one exe.

Good luck on your project and keep us informed. Let me know if you need help hooking up a drive to the printer port.
You may also want to check out the beginner's guide thread in this forum.

EDIT: I reread your previous post and your motor does draw 5 amps, so the drive in this post should work, but I think I would install heat sinks on the transistors cause you will be pushing the limits of that drive, especially if you plan to use PWM for speed control. Let me know if you need more info on the heat sinks. Or you may just want to buy a bigger drive.

[darthpaul]

PM sent

[darthpaul]

I can't believe it works, once I reversed the wires on my limit switches, I was good. The one problem I am having is with the other Emulators. I added them to the Startcom config but the monitor won't turn from vertical to horizontal when I choose them. I am also getting some MALA error messages, I don't know if this is related to mrotate3. I am currently running 1.660 and considering going to the most recent version, which I'm hoping will help.
Thanks Ken for all your help so far.

[DaOld Man]

I think you need to remove the emulators from the startcom.
It's been a while, and I guess I need to go back and look at it, but I think the list in startcom is for emulators that run in vertical mode.
Anything not in the list (other than mame), will be treated as horizontal mode.

Glad you got your drive to work!

EDIT: What is the error you are seeing? (What does it say?)

[darthpaul]

It turned out to be easier than I thought it would, thanks to your guidance. Everything is put back together and I am using the old DPST switch as my emergency stop and to fill hole, if I removed it.
In order to use the other Emulators(all must be horizontal), I must make sure the monitor is horizontal first correct?   

[DaOld Man]

In order to use the other Emulators(all must be horizontal), I must make sure the monitor is horizontal first correct?

No, if monitor is vertical, mrotate will turn it to horizontal.
If it is already horizontal, mrotate will do nothing.

[darthpaul]

It didn't work, that is why I put them in startcom and that didn't work either.

[DaOld Man]

Hmmm, are you still getting the error? If so, what does it say?

[darthpaul]

I'm not getting any error message, the game just loads horizontally with no movement of the monitor if in the vertical position.

[DaOld Man]

PM sent

[DaOld Man]

The name of Mrotate forum has been changed to better reflect any automation type projects people want to include.
You can still get support for MRotate here.

Feel free to post any information that you would like to contribute about cabs that turn, move, blink, or do things that are really cool.
Enjoy!

[Le Chuck]

I'm still showing Mrotate, what should it be?  Automations?

[DaOld Man]

Should be "Automated Projects (was Mrotate)" in the Support category.
It still shows MRotate in the top menu, Im sure that will be fixed soon.