Apologies if this is tired topic, but I have been searching around for months and haven't been able to locate a similar setup. I have a DIY project that is similar to a rock tumbler. I'd like to automate the control of it with continuously-looping reversing motor cycles when it's switched on. Currently, the motor direction is controlled manually by a simple motor controller board with a potentiometer to control speed and a 3-way rocker switch to control direction. I'd like for the motor to automatically reverse directions every few revolutions of the tumbler drum for as long as the unit is switched on. Ideally, the delay time would be controlled with a separate potentiometer, but don't know if that's practical with my limited skillset. I have no electrical background, so this may be too complicated for me to take on, but was really hoping there might be a ready-made board out there somewhere that would work for this project.
An Arduino board/motor driver combo seems the obvious choice but I'd like to avoid something that needs to be programmed. It's important to control both motor speed and delay on demand. The drum is for developing film in, and reversal is important for even development, and the motor's cycles will likely need adjustment between batches depending on the film type, contrast, etc. Right now I'm just reversing the motor manually with the switch, but it's a little tedious, and probably hard on the components.
The motor itself is a power seat motor, 12VDC with a 1.5A no-load current, and I think it has a 25A stall current. The film drum it is about 8" in diameter but a capacity of only 1 liter of solution, so there isn't a lot of load on the motor (except when I accidentally switch directions without letting the motor come to a stop).
Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions. Even suggestions for proper search parameters would be enormously helpful. I can never seem to string together the correct keywords.
BTW, there's a video of the setup here-
An Arduino board/motor driver combo seems the obvious choice but I'd like to avoid something that needs to be programmed. It's important to control both motor speed and delay on demand. The drum is for developing film in, and reversal is important for even development, and the motor's cycles will likely need adjustment between batches depending on the film type, contrast, etc. Right now I'm just reversing the motor manually with the switch, but it's a little tedious, and probably hard on the components.
The motor itself is a power seat motor, 12VDC with a 1.5A no-load current, and I think it has a 25A stall current. The film drum it is about 8" in diameter but a capacity of only 1 liter of solution, so there isn't a lot of load on the motor (except when I accidentally switch directions without letting the motor come to a stop).
Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions. Even suggestions for proper search parameters would be enormously helpful. I can never seem to string together the correct keywords.
BTW, there's a video of the setup here-
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