I need to lift a very lightweight object vertically from one level to another—please see the attached drawing.
Someone has suggested to me a step motor that would screw the threaded tube up and down, thereby delivering the object to the desired height. The movement of the object must remain in a vertical path at all times.
Is a step motor the right approach for this task, or is there a simpler method? What specific Arduino components would I need in either case to get started with this?
Also, if anyone has a better idea than a threaded tube, I am open to ideas—the only thing it has to do is move vertically to one of eight preset positions.
What does it weigh and how high does it have to go? How precisely does it have to be positioned.
If you need high precision a stepper is probably the best option. Make sure you understand how steppers work and what is the most appropriate stepper driver board before you spend your money. "Proper" stepper driver boards are much easier to work with.
As a simpler and cheaper alternative to a stepper, if you made a lazy-tongs mechanism it could be operated by a servo. Indeed there are probably several lever mechanisms that could be driven by a servo.
