Hey guys was doing some research on the net and found this forum so thought I'd give it a crack.

Now, for the project I'm looking to make a projector flipper (so when I turn on my projector in my room for it to be on a platform that flips around half of a rotation so my projector goes from hiding in the ceiling space to being below the ceiling and projecting on to my wall).

My projector has a 12v trigger output on it. I tested it today, and it goes from 0v on standby to 12vdc when turned on. This 12v dc stays constant the whole time the projector stays on.

I'm trying to do this fairly well on the cheap. As for me it's not exactly a need but a like to have.

I'm not worried about making the brackets and platform for it, I won't have a problem with that. It's just the whole control of the motor

Here are my original thoughts:

Using a car wiper motor as the means for flipping the projector as I assume it should have plenty enough torque and be pretty cheap.

Some other reading told me that most wiper motors will rotate at about 10rpm when supplied 3.3v which would mean it would flip the projector in 3 seconds. Which may be a bit fast. Not really sure.

So this is what I want

Turn on: for the 12vdc to trigger the motor to rotate and to stop after 0.5 rotations (I'm guessing some kind of proximity switch to tell it to stop at this point) and to stay at this position while the projector maintains it's 12v output

Turn off: on losing the 12vdc output from the projector for the motor to rotate in the opposite direction from before and for it to rotate 0.5 rotations again so the projector is hidden in the ceiling again till i turn on the projector again.

If you could please let me know your thoughts along with where to buy parts and some ideas on wiring too. Tis would be much appreciated

Thanks

Jason

 

This is an extremely ambitious project for a first time poster (welcome to the AAC forum, BTW). Perhaps you can elaborate on your experience level.

It would be an enormous help to find commercial products that are close to what you want, to avoid reinventing too many wheels. I think the circuitry is the least of your problems, compared to the mechanics, but it's still not trivial.

I've taken a few old VCR's apart, and I picture what you want as being close to the tape loading mechanism; lots of gears, cams, position sensors and such, with just one motor driving it all. Maybe simple in principle but pretty tough for a DIY project.

 

I can picture some simple mechanisms for this. Something lightly spring loaded to keep it in the ceiling. A small air compressor pump, perhaps of the battery driven, automotive car tire inflation genre. A bicycle tire tube that 'pushes' the whole contraption down against the spring pressure while the compressor works and deflates under the spring pressure to allow a gentle return to your ceiling 'hidey hole' when done.