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Wrestlemania
10 January 2014 | by Back when I had an easier job I decided that I’d attempt to make a really simple, lightweight rotator that used off the shelf servos or stepper motor’s driven by an Arduino. Either interfaced with a PC or as a stand alone device.
Well, things move when you’re not looking and it seems like my bright idea was also several others, and whilst I’ve been busy not doing anything radio, others have.
I’d managed to buy a couple of servos off eBay and managed to drive them with the standard examples. Although the movement wasn’t as smooth as I’d have liked. Perhaps a couple of large capacitors would have helped but as I didn’t have anything suitable to hand I thought I would have a go anyway.
Well it didn’t work out like that. After spending over an hour installing the Windows 8 drivers (how to turn you off an operating system!) I hooked up the Arduino and wrestled with the servos. Either they are knackered or there’s something missing…..
Time to take a step back and reflect, or buy a few caps
2 Responses to “Wrestlemania”
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I sure would like to get the stepper motor and arduino to play nice I haven’t been able to do it yet. I wanted to make a small unit on a tripod for camping. I see on youtube of other stepper motor rotors and they seem a bit jerky in movement. The big problem for me has been the arduino code.
I look forward to your project.
The code I’ll be pinching is from this blog http://blog.radioartisan.com/frankenrotator/ . The jerky behaviour is probably a factor of gearing / torque required. I’ve seen a few that are directly driven and that isn’t a great idea. Windscreen wiper motors may be better.