sparky/gadget whizzes.. little help pls?

[sAsLEX]

Naaa cause then you need a stepper motor and driver and you're looking at $100+ for a cheap one (good old penis smith). Whereas geared motors + 2 kill switches are like maybe $20 on the outside and then diodes are cents a piece and it'll be easier to hook up.

But if you got the time and money stepper motors would do the trick.

Something like this

bout 20 http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView....Max=&SUBCATID=


will teach myself how the buggers work and whip up a control unit cant be hard

[skelstar]

bout 20 [url]http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=YM2751&CATID=&keywords=stepper+motor&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=[/urlwill teach myself how the buggers work and whip up a control unit cant be hard

Youll need to read up about PWM and stuff. Could use a 555 timer like has been previously suggested but to be honest while its a good solution it would be a little overkill.

[aff-man]

Would be funny if you didnt include switch debouncing ...the plate would rattle up and down rapidly .

Baaaa who needs switch debouncing we just have a low ratio motor so it basically "slams" the plate into the switch

But yeh i mean i could wip up something on protell that's got all the wasjigs and whonanny's but why bother.

was thinking about it and solanoids with a flip flop would be way easier. And if i remember correctly there are some awesome ones in car central locking systems.

[skelstar]

...But yeh i mean i could wip up something on protell that's got all the wasjigs and whonanny's but why bother....

Indeed. besides protel is shit slow on my computer at work. Still using 99SE...maybe thats the problem...or windows 2000 with only 256MB RAM .

[sAsLEX]

Youll need to read up about PWM and stuff. Could use a 555 timer like has been previously suggested but to be honest while its a good solution it would be a little overkill.

yeah in fact I am currently a little involved trying to accuratly reproduce a nice sine wave using PWM in FPGAs (VHDL is so annoying!) mean I am little short of spare time.

Its more about giving the motor the right sequences and it might be possible with some simple memory elements but will ask some more knowledgeable people in at uni tomorrow

[aff-man]

Indeed. besides protel is shit slow on my computer at work. Still using 99SE...maybe thats the problem...or windows 2000 with only 256MB RAM .

hahahah i'm suprised your computer hasn't commited suicide hahahaha

[skelstar]

yeah in fact I am currently a little involved trying to accuratly reproduce a nice sine wave using PWM in FPGAs (VHDL is so annoying!) mean I am little short of spare time.

Ive been lucky enough to avoid the bulk of FPGA stuff at work. I tend to stick to micros thank goodness. Even writing assembler is better than FPGA code.

[phaedrus]

anyone remember those corrugated plastic pictures that change when you tilt them?

if you use that idea you can reduce the time it takes to make the number plate vanish, or even better change at the touch of a button

it might be a little pricey though.

[scumdog]

anyone remember those corrugated plastic pictures that change when you tilt them?

if you use that idea you can reduce the time it takes to make the number plate vanish, or even better change at the touch of a button

it might be a little pricey though.

If you're going to that extent you may as well make a home-made number-plate!!

PS Phaedrus, did YOUR mum say you look handsome (on the Dunedin/South Otago thread) like campbelllukes mum did????????

[phaedrus]

If you're going to that extent you may as well make a home-made number-plate!!

PS Phaedrus, did YOUR mum say you look handsome (on the Dunedin/South Otago thread) like campbelllukes mum did????????

If it works the way I think it does, it needs to be designed into the number plate and it won't get affected by wind.

handsome? no, didn't hear her say that.

[bugjuice]

ok, so I sketched out a few designs of what I was thinking, but it's not going to be as easy as I first thought. The original design had a guide which the number plate slid back on, and that held it up. But two issues - firstly, after time, the plate where it's rubbing might fault somehow, and secondly, the wind could blow it about a bit when it's down so a 'stop' would have to be put there, but that could get in the way of the plate coming back down..

so the plate tilting would have to be mechanical some other way. That bit, I'm still going to figure out which is best. I know how I want the plate to move, and I will get it to move (that's the brief I've set for it), it's just figuring out how to make it do it, the lightest, smallest and tidiest possible.

if anyone can figure out my bad sketches, then go for it. I'll have to brain storm a little more, then I'll design something which is a bit more understandable

[myvice]

Why not cut the numberplate in 1/2 ? Maybe length ways and fold the bottom part over the top with your favourite message underneath?
There are two types of door lock actuator, one is a motor and gearbox, very common, and the other is a solenoid type.
I have the solenoid type one sitting on my toolbox if you want it, if you get a 3-wire door lock actuator you will get the little rods and mounts you need as well.
Hook it up to your hazed switch?
Or you could get a Stealth Plate cover that goes dark (black) when you kill the current to it.
Or you could keep the front wheel in the air.
Or... You could get a large automatic welding helmet visor and tune it to camera flashers.
Maybe a light sensor wired to a phosphorous grenade?
There is a VERY simple way of doing what you want to do but its not as much fun...

[skelstar]

Ok BJ this has been playing on my mind a bit. Heres my latest design. Now I dont know what the inside of your bike looks like but I think you should be able to do this with one hole in your bike.

Basically you would have the solenoid mounted inside the seat, attached to it would be a piece of cable that would pass over a 'cable rest' and go down through a hole and connect to the plate. Obvioulsy the further up the plate the more movement you would get out of the solenoid action.

[bugjuice]

Ok BJ this has been playing on my mind a bit. Heres my latest design. Now I dont know what the inside of your bike looks like but I think you should be able to do this with one hole in your bike.

Basically you would have the solenoid mounted inside the seat, attached to it would be a piece of cable that would pass over a 'cable rest' and go down through a hole and connect to the plate. Obvioulsy the further up the plate the more movement you would get out of the solenoid action.

good design, but it'd mean cutting into the tail section, which I'm not going to do. This design I want to be able to bolt on and off. I'm not going to keep changing it over, but I've made the decision that anything I do to the bike, I can reverse back to stock if I want/need to. So cutting is out.

It also doesn't have the movement I want. When it's 'hidden', it's got to be parallel to the undertail of the bike, and it can't 'flip' straight up, cos it'll hide the tail light and disturb the sexy lines of the back..

I have another idea brewing, which I'll sketch up soon, see if that'll work and see what comments are about it

thanx for the input tho

[bugjuice]

k, this is really rough, and really not to scale, but this idea has been bouncing around in my head for a couple of days now.. The 'arms' would obviously be as thin and as small as poss. Probably chromed up would look nice, don't think coloured (except carbon fibre) wouldn't cut it really. Possibly the same grey as the frame..??

anyway....