Trying to simulate a motor that fails after starting up

Thread Starter

Modern Primate

Joined Mar 3, 2016
7
Hi folks,

I'm in the process of building something of a steampunk joke gift for a friend and I want it to give the impression of starting up before puttering out.

So basically:
- the user will hit a button or flip a switch
- the motor will rev up (vrum vrum vrum vrumvrumvrumvrumvrum...)
- after about a second the motor will "fail" (vrumvrumvrum vrow vroow vroooow)
- an led will light up behind a paper display of an error message

The trouble is, I'm an absolute beginner and I'm not even sure what to google. Can I do this with capacitors and motors? Should I be looking at arduino? I covered electronics in a college physics class but I have never picked up a soldering iron without burning myself.

While I'd love it if someone just told me the easiest way to accomplish this, I'd also be happy with just an idea of what to look up so I can get started.

Thanks!
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
What sort of motor are we talking about? Since you want sound, maybe you don't really need the motor, maybe just a sound file to play?

If you really want a motor, maybe you need a slow start? Otherwise it will be instant on.
 

Thread Starter

Modern Primate

Joined Mar 3, 2016
7
What sort of motor are we talking about? Since you want sound, maybe you don't really need the motor, maybe just a sound file to play?

If you really want a motor, maybe you need a slow start? Otherwise it will be instant on.
I wanted a motor because I want to have a bit of vibration along with the sound. Maybe a motor isn't the best way to accomplish the sound portion, though?

I didn't realize a motor could be slow start. I thought that would be externally controlled. I will check that out, thanks!
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
I didn't realize a motor could be slow start. I thought that would be externally controlled. I will check that out, thanks!
Sorry if it seemed I implied it was a type of motor. I was referring to a slow-start circuit. For example some power tools such as my router do slow starts to avoid jerking when they start, which could be a safety issue or make it hard to do some jobs. It's still pretty fast. Using a flywheel might help slow down the start and stop times.

One thing you might look into is a cellphone vibrate motor. These are tiny DC motors with an unbalanced flywheel. They obviously make noise and vibrate. If you control the rpm, you might get a nice effect. Pull one out of a dead cellphone.
 

Thread Starter

Modern Primate

Joined Mar 3, 2016
7
Motors are fairly quiet, how are you going to produce the sound you need?
I was actually going to try a flywheel (or something attached to one) that was a set up similar to how we used to use playing cards on our spokes to make our bikes sound ridiculous when we were kids. The card (or whatever was going to stand in for one) would also serve to slow down the flywheel once the power was cut.
 

Thread Starter

Modern Primate

Joined Mar 3, 2016
7
Sorry if it seemed I implied it was a type of motor. I was referring to a slow-start circuit. For example some power tools such as my router do slow starts to avoid jerking when they start, which could be a safety issue or make it hard to do some jobs. It's still pretty fast. Using a flywheel might help slow down the start and stop times.

One thing you might look into is a cellphone vibrate motor. These are tiny DC motors with an unbalanced flywheel. They obviously make noise and vibrate. If you control the rpm, you might get a nice effect. Pull one out of a dead cellphone.
That looks more like my ignorance reading it incorrectly than you actually implying anything. :)

The router explanation makes good sense, since I have one of them as well. I always assumed it was a flywheel making it start slowly. Either method should work, I think.

I happen to have a few old cell phones in a drawer. That's an excellent suggestion, thank you.

I'm not sure I can still use the 555 timer for all of this now, though...
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
There's a trick where you use one of those cellphone motors inside a paper envelope, powered by a button cell battery, and activate it when the "victim" opens the envelope. It makes quite a racket.
 

Thread Starter

Modern Primate

Joined Mar 3, 2016
7
Not sure if anyone is still reading this thread, but I have another question. It looks as though the 555 timer only handles loops. I'm looking to start a motor, stop it, then light up an led that stays on until the switch is flipped again. What would I look for to accomplish that?
 

ebeowulf17

Joined Aug 12, 2014
3,307
555 timer monostable with relay output, puts motor on,then motor off after set delay and puts led on..... simple
Not sure if anyone is still reading this thread, but I have another question. It looks as though the 555 timer only handles loops. I'm looking to start a motor, stop it, then light up an led that stays on until the switch is flipped again. What would I look for to accomplish that?
I think the key word here is monostable (as opposed to astable 555 circuits which do just loop forever.)
 
Top