Timelapse Track Arduino

Community General Discussions
1

Hello all, I am in the process of researching how to build a 6’ long track using

The Arduino Basic Kit
and
12V 0.4A 36oz-in Unipolar Stepper Motor

I understand that I will need to program the Board to step the motor the lenth of the track.

My goals for the track and dolly, is to use the Controller board and motor to run the length both forwards an backwards

Ramp in speed (maybe)
Use differernt speeds
1hr
2hr
5hr
1 day etc.
I was informed that a potentionmenter would do this? What do I buy??? there are so many options

My question to you all, is this.
With the gear I am going to buy, will this be possible, or do I need a more advanved Controller board?
AM I able to run the jumper from the board to the dolly 5’ away wich will have the engine on it?
What other parts will I need, I figure i shold buy it all at once.

Looking forward to some help on this, I think is pretty basic project compared to what some of you are doing here - amazing work!

Thanks, love to hear from someone soon.
Mark

2

Hi Graphecitons,

Welcome to the RobotShop Forum. The easiest approach when using a stepper motor with an Arduino would be to use the Motor Shield Kit for Arduino. Note that the current cannot be too high, and if so, you would need a separate stepper motor controller. You can certainly add a potentiometer to the Arduino and create code that controls the number of steps to get the timing you want.

The other issue is the mechanical setup, in that you need to choose a stepper motor powerful enough to move the load (don’t know if you plan on creating a belt, using a guide rail etc.). A camera can weigh a bit too and the stepper motor you indicated before may not be powerful enough.

Hope this helps,