im hoping you guys can steer me in the right direction. I have these tiny little electric motor type deals i bought from radioshack, and what im trying to figure out is how i can regulate the power to it. Tested it out to a battery and the thing spins soo fast. Its rated to spin to 26k rpm which is way too much.
So anyways, i going to use this to have a tray that goes in/out to hold my VAFC2. The tray will sit in the empty pocket under the radio. The tray will go in/out and i’ll also have some type of swivel/hinge so when its out i can tilt the vafc so i can see it. Doing this for a stealth look and to deter thieves from stealing my vafc. Any help would be good, thanks.
If all you want to do is regulate speed, then all you’d need is a DC rheostat. Unfortunately, you are going to need more than that. The torque output of those little motors will be so low that it probably won’t work for what you want it to do without some type of gearing system.
I would suggest checking out local hobby shops and explaining what you want to do; I’m sure the could suggest some type of gearing system that would decrease speed and increase torque.
yea…i thought about that too. but then again these are the same little motors that power those little rc cars i saw at radioshack(the smaller ones). and i figure the vafc isn’t much heavier than that. i’ll be making a tray out of plastic so it won’t be heavy.
Good idea though…i’ll hit up some hobby shops this weekend and see what i come up with. Anybody else?
yea…its turning out to be alot more complicated than i had in mind. I could go with something simple, i dunno, something simple like just a slide out tray(kinda like those cupholders everyone’s putting under the cd player same concept. But blah thats too easy.
The dimmer switch thing, yea…someone mentioned a potentiometer(spelling???). So i could regulate the speed no problem, but then i have to figure out how to stop the motor from spinning at a precise time. I talked to a guy at a car audio shop and he mentioned a “limit switch.” Dunno what that is, still gotta do more research.
As far as the gearing would go…still need to go out to one of those, i guess, “rc car” shops and see if they have any ideas.
I’m sure alot of you are saying “why go thru all the trouble?” Well, idea is to have something stealth, stock looking, “kewl”, and unique. I know some of you put your vafc right next to the cig lighter and remove the ashtray but i don’t want to do that. I thought about putting it where the clock is but then again, while im driving i don’t want it to be noticeable.
honstly pop open an old vcr and look at the gearing used in one of those its verys similar to what you will want to build or even the cd tray mech. in a cd rom or cd player with a pop out tray.
next you going to have to regulate the power going to those lil engines because there ment to run on between 7.2v and 9.6v not 12v and by conecting them to 12 volts there gonna spin crazy fast. you will need a rheostat (sp) or something similar that will regulate the voltage and get it moving at a nicer speed you don’t want it landing in the back seat.
a limit switch just tells the motor when to stop its just a little miro switch that would cut the power.
You can do the whole gearing thing but that’s too much trouble. A fun little project it would be.
If you want the motor to spin slower, if you take it apart. U’ll notice that there is just a bunch of copper wire that’s wrapped together. I’m sure most of you know this but the way these electric motors work is by inductance. So if you want it to spin slower just unwrap some of that wire. U’ll actually need to do a lot since u want it to spin way slower of course. However jsilas is right, I’m not sure about the torque specs on those motors. May not be enough, but then again you can always go back to the gearing idea.
All you need is a variable resistor and possibly another gear. You can resist DC volts without changing amps. I get LEDs to run off a 12 volt battery that are rated for 7.8 volts max. If you get a variable one you can adjust it a little and turn on power. Keep adjusting and checking it till you get a good speed. If you find that you need more torque(you problay wont if you build the tray right), you can use a larger gear then whats on the motor. Let the motor turn the larger gear, the larger gear then moves the tray. You will get a slower speed, and better torque.
Check with a local hobby shop about getting gears. They sell them for the RC cars. I have a 1/8 scale off road buggy and I know that all the local shops around here sell the gears.
This is what we used to do in the old days when we wanted to motorize a tray, [very low tech] wewould use motors out of old 8 tracs, [your motors should work although speed may be a problem you can test it] use a long fine tread bolt, [coarse tread will be faster] diameter will have a small effect also I think, grind down the bolt head to about the same size as the gear on the motor, [ square is better then round] use 3 or 4 layers of shrink tube to connect the head of the bolt to the gear, [ kind of like a uni joint] tread a nut on to the end of the bolt, if you hold the nut, [and motor] from spining, run the motor clockwise, the nut, and anything it is attatched to will be pulled towards the motor, run the motor counter clockwise and the reverse happens, add a pair of limit switchs and a SPDT rocker switch and you are there. I have used this system on a lot of trays and amp racks and other things its cheap, low tech, and it works :hmm:94
Motors like that will, like most have said, will need gearing to slow them down. You can probably find gears that fit the pinion gear you have on your current motor from slot car stores. Adding a resistor/potentiometer will reduce the speed of the motor and the torque as well, which will probably not work. I have used motors like that with slot car gears. It might be hard building the gear enclosure because your’e going to have to line up all the teeth. Good luck.
