I'd like to use Arduino to set up a little conveyor belt that will lift coins up about 3 feet... What would you recommend in terms of hardware? I'd like to know what sort of motor I'd need to power this... Assuming the belt would hold 20-30 quarters at a time, this would be about 0.3 pounds to lift. I'd also like to try and avoid having to custom build a belt from scratch and potentially use something like a timing belt that has the teeth already built in, so the coins could just ride on the ridges at an angle... But timing belts all have the teeth too close together... Anyone have any solutions for the belt and/or motor?
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
is this a conveyor (angled) or an elevator (lifting) ?
Either way, if you plan the motor / speed / available torque vs the gearing ratio, it should be pretty easy to sort out.
As i consider things like starting with a full belt vs empty belt.
It would be an elevator at an inclined angle. So I guess a few degrees angled back in order for the coins to sit upright on ledges and not fall off. Belt would only need to be slightly wider than one coin. It would start empty and add coins one at a time.
I'm guessing it's not possible with just a small servo motor... right? I'd need something bigger than 5V to lift dozens of coins up a belt, I would think.
For the length of the belt, how many coins (so you can calculate the max weight).
Then you can start playing with mechanical arrangements and testing motors.
If it's one small motor, you may need some gearing - but impossible to tell until you determine the load.
The gearing need not be direct-drive... you could consider a driven idler or third 'drive' pulley with a smaller diameter than the load pulleys.