Robotic Casket

Thread Starter

tommygee

Joined May 14, 2012
2
I am a robotics enthusiast. I have a Halloween robotic casket that I have been working on for years. It’s basically a casket frame covered with canvas, a store-bought plastic skeleton inside and a mechanical skull(use to have a motion sensor). The complete cycle consists of the lid opening, the skeleton sitting up, one eye drops out (attached to a string) and his bottom jaw flaps, the eye retracts, he lies down and the lid closes.

It has evolved over the years. I have always used, and even today I still use, DC motors with limit switches. In the early days I used a rope and pulley systems to lift the lid and sit the skeleton up. For the first few years the motors where controlled using Q-Basic through a printer port. For the past three years I have been using an Arduino.

I have decided that I want more control over my robotic creations so I have started experimenting with steppers. I find it easy to make then step using either logic, ic, or an Arduino. Where my issue develops is power.

Is there a diy test-bench circuit that will help me determine max power/amps need to push a stepper motor. My steppers need some oomph before they're usable/reliable.

I am hoping the forum/group can help me work through this.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Is there a diy test-bench circuit that will help me determine max power/amps need to push a stepper motor.
Can you not get all the data you need from the manufacturers datasheets instead of experimentation? One's a lot easier than the other.
 

Thread Starter

tommygee

Joined May 14, 2012
2
Like in Edison's quote posted by KMoffett... I am the guy with a pile of junk. The only two things I have ever bought off the shelf specifically for the animatronics, as KMoffett pointed out, is the MAXI dual and a linier motor, which I haven't used yet.
I have lot of big stepper motor, but I am not sure how to interpret the data provided on the dtat plates.
 
Top