lumia Wheel

[kiyoukan]

Been looking around for some info on these interesting slow moving lights shows and maybe it just my searching skills but i was not able to turn up any sources for the glass, motors.
i have found a few places but before i buy i would like to know where do the people who build them and am i buy reasonable stuff. thanks for all advice.
Clear Textured Glass 5-lb. Assortment
5 RPM GEAR MOTOR, 12VDC | AllElectronics.com
6 RPM GEARHEAD MOTOR | AllElectronics.com
<B>MOT1011</B><BR>Robot Motor - MOT1011

 

[KGB_Productions]

FYI- A motor with a RPM of <1 is what you need, anything else will be too fast.

 

[kiyoukan]

wow 5 rpm is to fast? where do you find motors with rpm lower than 1?

 

[o0ICE0o]

there are some very slow ones here:
3-12V Gear Motors

 

[kiyoukan]

i was hoping to pick them up under 10$.
American Science & Surplus : Motors, Blowers and Pumps
Gear Motor

Open, close or move whatever with this mighty little 3-12VDC 4RPM gear motor
is that 4rpm at 3v or 12v? if that's its speed at 12 then at 3 it would be less than 1rpm correct? and its under 8$

 

[o0ICE0o]

...maby gear down a faster motor?

 

[HIMNL9]

Can i give you some suggestions ?

DealExtreme: $4.90 9g Mini Servo with Gears and Parts (2.1kg Torque)
DealExtreme: $4.90 PowerHD HD-1370A 3.7g Servo with Gears and Parts (0.4kg Torque)
DealExtreme: $4.96 TowerPro SG90 9G Mini Servo with Accessories
DealExtreme: $4.45 Mystery 9G Mini Servo with Accessories (1.3kg Torque)
DealExtreme: $4.30 Mystery 4.4G Mini Servo with Accessories (0.8kg Torque)

Those are R/C servos, all they have small dimensions, a nice 4,8/6V mini-motor with a gerbox, and some application parts as bonus (so you have more ways for fix the glass plates)

I dismantled a towerpro, just cause i had one more around here, for show the inside, but basically all are almost the same (except for the small light versions, that are, ofcourse, more small )

Taking away the control pcb and the pot, you get a nice, boxed, geared motor ..... it can work with low voltages, due to the nature of the original application, so can be underpowered for make it turn slow ..... and also have fixing flanges

Last but not least, all costs less than 5 $ ..... ok. they are not professional products, but for this money .....

BTW, more is the torque, better is, ofcourse

 

[kiyoukan]

Thanks i have some of those off and old hydro plane.

 

[carmangary]

You can get 1RPM 12V motors off ebay now and then for around $15. They are about the size of a golf ball and work well. You need to mount something on it to turn. You can make a cheap disc out of the clear disc that comes with blank CDs. Use a blow torch to slowly heat it up until it starts to bubble and then move to a new spot. You have to be careful not to warp it too much or burn it. It will probably take you a couple tries to make a good one. Or you can get a piece of shower glass cut in a circle. Or use a light candy dish. Or smear some vaseline on some glass. lol. Be creative.

My new version of Spaghetti will turn on and off TTL devices so if you want to be able to control one of these with Spaghetti and you can using a USB TTL controller (~$25).

 

[kiyoukan]

well those motors spin around 10rpm at 1.5v and could not get it any slower

 

[HIMNL9]

Uhm, perhaps they have some limits ..... the one i dismantled works til 0,9V, running at 3 RPM, more or less, but if i reduce more the voltage, it stop .....

Without the gears, the motor run also at some less voltage, but this is unhelpful ..... need to find something better, perhaps, for very low speeds ..... cause 3 RPM is good with some types of glasses, but is not good with some others, damn .....

 

[kiyoukan]

i think i might just try to add 1 more gear to it. if i can rig up one more gear it would be perfect. i will try to use the gears from an old DVD drive as i think most people hear have there spare parts every where.

 

[HIMNL9]

Yes, adding some extra gears will work good ..... i was thinking about use only the servo body, at the start, for keep the dimensions small.

Then i realized that, anyway, you have to fit the glass dimensions, so the dimensions of the motor assembly are not so importants ..... LOL.

At this point, you can also use the plastic part inside the DVD, the one with the gears that control the cd tray ..... just fix the pulley on the servo, and change the original motor with it, and you get an already aligned extra gears set

 

[kiyoukan]

pretty much what i did. altho mine did not have a pulley it was straight gears but with some work i got it t got together i now have a .6-.7 rpm to a 4rpm motor all for under 5$ and it has a ton of power.

 

[KGB_Productions]

Check this out for a Pre-Built lumia wheel.

$35
.5 RPM Motor
Granite style glass

Lumia <-Link

 

[carmangary]

Wow. That motor and glass is the same as what I have for my lumia wheel. $35 is not a bad deal considering that it comes with mounted glass. Can be cheaper if you DIY but $35 for time saved in finding parts and making the wheel and mount is probably worth it.

Also, keep in mind that you can effectively reduce the rpms by half by moving the laser beam 1/2 the distance to the center. The closer the laser is to the center the slower the change. So, the above wheel is probably 2X larger than it needs to be.