Hello,
I have a question about a stepper motor I want to use in a project using an Arduino and the BigEasydriver. I am looking for a stepper motor that is able to lift and hold a TV weighing in at 12-14 pounds. Can anyone help me out choosing a motor with these requirements?
Thanks.
What is the mechanical mechanism you are going to use?
How fast does it need to move?
How far do you need to move the TV?
For any stepper motor that the BigEasydriver can drive you will need a mechanical reducer to increase the torque to lift 12-14 pounds.
Is there any reason you’re using a stepper ? Nothing wrong with that but I’m not sure there’s any advantage either. One thing I will say is I don’t think you want to rely on the motor, under power, to hold the TV up and in place. I’d recommend some sort of ratchet mechanism or better yet a worm drive.
The TV needs to go up about 20inches, it doesn’t need to go fast. I was looking at a stepper motor because it was less expensive than linear actuators.
Linear actuators also don’t go up that high apparently. The thing I really want to know is is a stepper motor up to the job of lifting that kind of weight. If not I shouldn’t waste time looking into it obviously.
So would 10 secs be a reasonable deployment time ? And to re-ask waltr’s question … what’s your thinking on the mechanics of this ? My first thought is to use/make some kind of electric scissor jack arrangement.
Mee_n_Mac:
So would 10 secs be a reasonable deployment time ? And to re-ask waltr’s question … what’s your thinking on the mechanics of this ? My first thought is to use/make some kind of electric scissor jack arrangement.
Yes, 10 sec. would be ok. Thanks for the idea, worth thinking about it. I am a little worried maybe about the noise from such an arrangement.
For $90, Pololu sells a 12 volt linear actuator that will lift 110 pounds 12 inches. Given a lever arrangement like the scissor jack above, a lighter object could be raised much higher. A couple of switches are all that would be required to control it. See http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/2312
Any stepper motor will require a gearbox to lift your TV. Adding in the requirements for a power supply, motor driver and controller, it is hard to imagine that any stepper arrangement that you could come up with would be much cheaper than the linear actuator.
