Hi I am trying to build an arduino controlled router lift here is how it will work.
A dc motor will drive a threaded rod up and down I need to be able to control the speed of the motor preferably in percentages of full power ie 25% or 50% . But I also want to be able to control the distance the motor travels by 1/4 or 1/2 mm increments to a set hight . So I can set a hight and the motor will travel to it a the speed set or travel back to home at full speed..
I will also want a key pad or dial operated input system and a 2 line display showing hight and speed set .
To give you an idea
There is one on you tube here YouTube
The building of it is no problem and I realise I may need to gear down the shaft to get fine increments I want also I realise I will have to calibrate it to be working right.
Is this possible to do and if so how hard is it as I am a beginner at arduino
Thank you in advance
Al
For some reason Youtube doesn't show your video.
Easiest is probably a stepper motor and a circuit to control it.
You can command a stepper motor to turn CW/CCW in very small steps, up to 200-steps per rotation.
Stepper-controllers are available up to 1/16 steps.
You may not need it, but that makes it possible to turn the motor shaft with a precision of 3200 steps per rotation.
What size stepper motor will I need to lift about 5 kilos
Measure the torque needed to turn your drive mechanism, add a safety margin (I suggest doubling it) and that tells you the torque you should be speccing for your drive motor. You will need to look for a stepper motor that can provide the required torque, and then work out the supply voltage needed to generate that torque and the peak current drawn at that voltage. This will tell you the voltage and current you need to spec for your motor driver circuit. Again, I'd suggest adding a safety margin to the peak voltage/current figures so that your driver isn't operating at the limits of its capabilities.
MLCS Motorized Router Lift link. Fixed Youtube link.
They're using a gearhead DC motor and digital height gauge for feedback but I'd think a stepper motor would work just as well. Just basing it on my own experience with having built a (non-motorized) lift, I would expect you'd need a NEMA23 size stepper or gearhead NEMA17.