Hello forum. I have basically no experience with any of the things discussed here, but my goal has lead me to find Arduino and am consider it as an option.
What I am looking to do is have a motor, which physically allows me to attach a hex shaft item (picture a something such as a drillbit that has a 1/4" hex shank instead of cylindrical). I would like to be able to vary the speed of this motor. Ideally, it could range somewhere between 200 and 3000 RPM, if that's feasible.
From what I understand, I should be able to achieve this with a stepper motor, a potentiometer or variable resistor (same thing?), a motor driver (what is this? power supply?), and the Arduino.
I suppose the questions in my head are what determines the RPM range of a motor when it's at its maximum setting on the potentiometer? My assumption is that it comes down to voltage, but I'm not sure how to shop for the right components to get the range I'm after. Is it the motor itself? Is it an external system, such as the driver?
Also, is there such a coupler for a "normal" motor output shaft that'd give me a female hex output?
What this is for is I have a small cranking device that I use for trimming small pieces of brass. I crank it by hand, but there is an adapter for powering it externally, with the intention of just using a drill. I want to avoid the drill thing and make my own little setup here, partially for fun.
Stepper motors are for accurate positioning and low speed operations, usually less than a few hundred RPM and require a specialized stepper motor driver.
For your application, a brushed DC motor would be a much better choice, but it would need to be a gearhead motor to have adequate torque over the range 200-3000 RPM.
You need to determine how much torque your gizmo requires in order to make an informed choice, but if it is hand-operated, a large motor is probably not required. Pololu has a good selection of gearhead motors.
Pololu also has suitable motor drivers, and any Arduino can be used to control the system.
You can buy shaft couplers for just about any imaginable connection.
Gametes:
I crank it by hand, but there is an adapter for powering it externally, with the intention of just using a drill. I want to avoid the drill thing and make my own little setup here, partially for fun.
That sounds like something that requires a lot of torque. I reckon adapting a battery powered drill to do the job would be much the simplest.
Delta_G:
You'll learn more and faster following those links that you will in days asking generic questions on the forum. Or are you one of those kids that just has to have it all spoon fed to you? If so then quit now. Programming and electronics isn't for people like that. It will just be a long frustrating road that eventually ends in failure if you are incapable of learning anything without having it spoon fed to you.
You're right. I probably shouldn't have included that snide remark. I'd reached the end of my general research about this stuff and was looking for the next level of two-way communication with people specific about my application. I've been a software developer since before Y2K, so I'll be quite fine if I do go down a programmatic route.