I have been working on a project to automate the takeup roller on my wife's quilting machine table. The project entails attaching a stepper motor to each end of the takeup roller of the quilting table so that when a magnet attached to the carriage of the sewing machine passes a hall-sensor (latching), the motors will be activated to roll forward approximately 2 to 3 inches as the carriage moves forward, hence making the area being sewn greater than the inside space (harp) size of the sewing machine. I have successfully managed to make the motors respond by passing the hall-sensor over the north pole of a strong magnet, and unlatch when passing over the south pole of another magnet efficiently stopping the motors. The issue now is to get the motors to reverse their travel and go back to the original starting point in the same way as going forward past the magnets. Any ideas out there? I will post the sketch later from home, as I am at work right now and don't have acces to my computer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks guys,
Larry