Product advise for my timelapse project

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templeclause
 
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Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by templeclause »

Hello!

I intend to build a small timelapse platform for my GoPro Camera.
I kind of want to do this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Timelap ... /?ALLSTEPS

but with another axis for the tilt.
So it's something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASMEyrRXCRw

but with stepper motors.
So I'm trying to buy the right parts now.
Because I need smooth rotation I was looking at this stepper motor:
http://www.adafruit.com/products/324

Would this motor have enough torque to turn my gopro?

I would like to control the angles so I was looking at the LCD shield.
http://www.adafruit.com/products/772

Could I stack that shield on top of the motor shield?
http://www.adafruit.com/products/1438

Thanks for all advice :-)

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The #324 should handle the GoPro. Keep in mind that the pan axis will need to handle the combined weight of the tilt axis motor, gear-train and camera, so you may want to use a higher gear reduction ratio there.

You will be able to stack the motor shield and RGB/LCD shield with no problems.

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templeclause
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by templeclause »

Thanks for your reply!

Could you explain the "higher gear reduction ratio" a bit more for me please?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The instructables tutorial specifies:
1x 12 tooth drive gear
1x 36 tooth driven gear
The 12 tooth gear is attached to the motor shaft. The 36 tooth gear is attached to the camera platform. It will take 3 rotations of the motor to get one rotation of the camera.
In other words a 3:1 gear reduction ratio. A 3:1 reduction also gives you 3x more torque than you would get driving the camera directly from the motor.

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templeclause
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by templeclause »

Oh now I see what you mean! Thanks. You don't sell any gears do you?

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templeclause
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by templeclause »

Oh and I have another question, I just saw that this motor has much more steps:
http://www.adafruit.com/products/918

So if I'm getting the right idea I wouldn't need any gears for this motor? But the question is would it have enough torque?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I think that the smaller one might be a good choice for the tilt motor. It is small and light and should have enough torque to tilt the camera if it is reasonably well balanced. I'd probably still use the #324 motor to drive the pan. But with a smaller, lighter tilt mechanism, you could probably get by with less gear reduction.

For this application, I would recommend timing belts & pulleys, since they operate smoother and with less vibration compared to gears. We have 20t and 36t versions of these. That will give you a 1:1.8 gear reduction ratio. http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_ ... elt+pulley

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Franklin97355
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by Franklin97355 »

Sparkfun is now carrying the Actobotics line of hardware https://www.sparkfun.com/news/1345 Also if you balancs your rig it will take less force to move and hold it in position.

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templeclause
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by templeclause »

Thanks for your reply!

So if would use the 20t -> 36t I would have a 1:1.8 gear reduction ratio. Would that mean that I could now do 200*1.8=360 steps with the pan motor?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Would that mean that I could now do 200*1.8=360 steps with the pan motor?
That is correct.

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templeclause
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by templeclause »

Thank you very much for your support.
So I've seen that your motor shield is out of stock. I've seen a very similar one here:
http://www.sainsmart.com/arduino/arduin ... atmel.html

So I was wondering if they just copied your stuff? Because I would not want to support that.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

That is a copy of our L293D-based V1.1 motor shield. The V2 shield uses TB6612 drivers plus an on-board PWM chip so it can be driven with just 2 pins compared to the 8 pins needed by our older design. These have been very popular and hard to keep in stock. If you sign up for notifications, you will get an email as soon as the next batch comes off the assembly line.

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templeclause
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by templeclause »

Alright, I will wait for it being back in stock

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templeclause
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by templeclause »

Do you know when it will be back in stock?
And could you tell me what the shipping cost of a single motor shield to switzerland is? (I can't add it to the cart because it's out of stock and check it myself and i'm thinking about ordering the other parts now and the motor shield when it's back in stock)

Thanks a lot

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Product advise for my timelapse project

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I don't know precisely when it will be back in stock. Shipping cost should be about the same as most of our shield kits. You can try putting one of these in the cart to estimate shipping.

You might also check with some of our European distributors. It might save you some shipping cost. And you might even find one that has the shields in stock: http://www.adafruit.com/distributors/

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