Suggestion for a motor to spin a small wheel?

Thread Starter

wrybread

Joined Jul 3, 2005
32
I'm making something that's essentially like one of those old hypnotist discs, like this:

hypno.png

I was wondering if anyone has any advice for a small motor that could spin it at variable RPM from about 1 rpm up to maybe 60 rpm. I'm interested both in something very simple that could be controlled by a pot, and/or one that could be controlled by an ESP32/Arduino.

Will be spinning a lightweight piece of plexiglass or plywood.

Thanks for any help.
 

dendad

Joined Feb 20, 2016
4,451
To get that sort of control, I'd go with a small stepper motor.
Mayne even one of these from Ebay...
Gearedstepper.png
One of these as it has 64:1 gearbox reduction, and a driver board that an Arduino or similar cad drive.
 

Thread Starter

wrybread

Joined Jul 3, 2005
32
Awesome, thank you. Any idea on how quiet that would be?

(And for anyone else coming this way, that's the 28BYJ-48).
 
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Tonyr1084

Joined Sep 24, 2015
7,853
I have a motor drive from an old CD player. In particular the motor that slews the laser back and forth. When powered at 3.3VDC it spins the final gear at about 2 RPS (Rev's Per Second) or (120 RPM). Using some old tape deck pulleys you can also gear down the rotation rate. All scrap from an old stereo.

I have a lot of junk. In fact, I made a marble machine out of the motor and worm gear drive that rotated the 3-disk disk changer. Its rotation rate is about 1 RPS (60 RPM).

Instead of using plexiglass or plywood, a foam board would be much lighter and a whole lot easier on any bearings you scrape together. The shaft that drives the cassette tape past the tape head is a pretty robust shaft and bearing set.
 

Bernard

Joined Aug 7, 2008
5,784
You might consider a gear head DC motor like one of many by Pololu, 100 RPM@ 6V, 70 mA. Easy
speed control with pot and transistor or a PWM controller @ about US $5.75.
Selection depends on your location.
Another choice from All Electronics, 6-24 V, 142 RPM, dual ball bearing, smooth, quiet operation, 6 mm X 14 mm shaft with extended motor shaft for tac .
 
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Thread Starter

wrybread

Joined Jul 3, 2005
32
You might consider a gear head DC motor like one of many by Pololu, 100 RPM@ 6V, 70 mA. Easy
speed control with pot and transistor or a PWM controller @ about US $5.75.
Selection depends on your location.
Another choice from All Electronics, 6-24 V, 142 RPM, dual ball bearing, smooth, quiet operation, 6 mm X 14 mm shaft with extended motor shaft for tac .
Thanks. In the case of the 6-24 V motor (link), how would I connect a disc to it? Would I need to purchase a coupler for it?

And any tips on controlling its speed?

In final form I plan to laser cut a plexiglass circle with a hole in the center for the shaft. Possibly also 1/4" (6.4mm) plywood.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
Do a Google search from display motors. These are motors used in animated store displays. Hankscraft is one popular manufacturer, with a selection of speeds. But there are other manufacturers.

To vary their speed, look at PWM motor driver modules.
 

Bernard

Joined Aug 7, 2008
5,784
For the plywood I would drill with a # 1 bit and force onto shaft or epoxy either disc on to a EU
set screw 6 mm pot. knob. Or dug into spacer bin for a brass 3/16 ID, 1/2 " OD X 1/2 " L & drill out to 6 mm, solder to a brass disc.
Where are you located?
I also made some knobs from 1/2 " plastic with set screws, bolt or glue.
 
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Thread Starter

wrybread

Joined Jul 3, 2005
32
Thanks, those display motors look really interesting. Hankscraft has some really nice looking motors.

I got a 28byj-48 wired up, it's great. Very quiet, nice and small, plenty of torque. I'll be using these for lots of things. It's a touch slow (max 15 rpm) for this particular application though, which is basically this:


I think that's about 60 to 120 rpm. Does anyone know of a similar motor that spins at or close to that speed? It wouldn't need a lot of torque, my disc will be very light.
 
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