Hi.
I'm a complete newbie to arduino. I came across this as I have been researching a fit microprcessor that can control an automated bottle capper I'm working on.
Now the mechanics side is simple. Where I need help is controlling it.
So this is what I need to do. I have a round disc with a cut out every 45 degrees to slide a bottle around to the position of my capper.
First thing that needs to be done is the round disc needs to continuously rotate 45 degrees then pause for a set time, say 3 seconds then repeat over and over obviously using a stepper motor.
As soon as the disc stops I need to activate a pneumatic solenoid valve to open a pneumatic actuator after a set time say 2 seconds a second solenoid is activated to close the actuator.
So disc rotates 45 degrees then pause, solenoid opens actuator, second solenoid closes actuator, disc rotates 45 degrees and repeat.
If anyone can point me in the direction of what I will need to accomplish this task it would be very much appreciated.
Will the coding for this be hard for a beginner? The process to me sounds simple so I'm hoping there is an easy way of achieving it.
Operating the solenoids will be relatively trivial. I'd suggest that you start by getting yourself a stepper driver module and a small stepper, then using the Arduino "Stepper" library, begin to get the feel of running a stepper using the examples provided with the IDE. The Stepper library is packaged with the IDE, and the examples are under >File >Examples >Stepper.
Depending on your level of knowledge already, you might want to start out with the simplest of examples to blink a LED, then work up. >File >Examples >Basics "Blink"
And, under >Examples >Digital, "Blink Without Delay". Then, of course, there's the example linked by Henry, but you might want to work up to that one, again depending on your existing knowledge of Arduino and C++.
An Arduino is a pretty good choice for your task. Easy to learn and use and more than capable of what you want. You'd only need a UNO for this.
I'm totally new as well and have 0 programming experience, skella, and those 2 previous posts are correct.
I started out with "blink", and then "blinkwithoutdelay" included in the IDE, and then moved on to severalthingsatonce from the link above. Also, read and reference this page
After that, figure out what other types of coding or libraries you will need like servo or stepper motor.
You're just gonna have to do some reading and play around a bit.
Good luck!
Skella:
obviously using a stepper motor.
Is there a reason why a stepper motor is the obvious choice?
I'm not sure I'd trust a stepper to be where it's supposed to be all the time so I'd want to use some sort of position feedback. As long as there's position feedback, you could use DC geared motor. I'm not saying a DC motor is a better alternative but I don't see a stepper motor being the obvious best option.