Automatic Gauntlet assistance.

[Darkershadow]

Hello everyone, I have been working on an automatic blade gauntlet using a cd-drive from a friends old external hard drive, I got the idea from this thread http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?sh...mplate+gauntlet
Now it works fairly well but one problem that is keeping me from continuing the project is somehow I keep bypassing the circuit. It seems when I have the wires set up so that the disk try goes out, I can't attach wires to the battery to go back in. No matter what order I put them in the tray still goes out. The only way
I think I can fix it is getting another battery. The problem with that is I am using a 4 volt batter which is fairly large, and having to would be difficult to carry. I was wondering if any of you had a solution to this, if needed I can post a video of my problem if it helpsany of you understand what I am talking about. So please if you have any input I'd appreciate it a lot!

 

[Elkman]

Hello everyone, I have been working on an automatic blade gauntlet using a cd-drive from a friends old external hard drive, I got the idea from this thread http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?sh...mplate+gauntlet
Now it works fairly well but one problem that is keeping me from continuing the project is somehow I keep bypassing the circuit. It seems when I have the wires set up so that the disk try goes out, I can't attach wires to the battery to go back in. No matter what order I put them in the tray still goes out. The only way
I think I can fix it is getting another battery. The problem with that is I am using a 4 volt batter which is fairly large, and having to would be difficult to carry. I was wondering if any of you had a solution to this, if needed I can post a video of my problem if it helpsany of you understand what I am talking about. So please if you have any input I'd appreciate it a lot!

Are you saying that the motor is pulling the wires away from the battery so you can't reconnect them? Or are you having problems reversing the polarity of the battery back to the motor? If it's the first problem, you'll probably need to put flexible wires on the motor so they're long enough to stretch from the motor to whatever fixed point they're attached to on the gauntlet. If you're having problems wiring up a reversing switch, this tutorial on instructables.com shows you how to wire up a DPDT switch to reverse the polarity.

If you want to post pictures or a video showing what's going on, that would help to explain the problem. I'd be happy to help out, since I wrote up the first thread about making the blade gauntlet using a CD-ROM, so I did all the experimentation in the first place.

 

[Ei luj]

Elkman,

That instructables is a good reference for this

In my applications I use a DPDT switch that has a center OFF, and momentary ON on either side.
That way the battery is disconnected from the actuator/motor until you want to move one way or the other.
It keeps the actuator/motor from draining the battery when it hits the physical limits...

---
Ei'luj

 

[Darkershadow]

Are you saying that the motor is pulling the wires away from the battery so you can't reconnect them? Or are you having problems reversing the polarity of the battery back to the motor? If it's the first problem, you'll probably need to put flexible wires on the motor so they're long enough to stretch from the motor to whatever fixed point they're attached to on the gauntlet. If you're having problems wiring up a reversing switch, this tutorial on instructables.com shows you how to wire up a DPDT switch to reverse the polarity.

If you want to post pictures or a video showing what's going on, that would help to explain the problem. I'd be happy to help out, since I wrote up the first thread about making the blade gauntlet using a CD-ROM, so I did all the experimentation in the first place.

Heres a quick video explaining in better detail (I hope) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPorf5RIbL8...player_embedded. Though you pretty much did answer my question on your first post but I still want to know if I can make the disk tray go in and out with one battery and 2 switches.

 

[MasterAnubis]

If I'm understanding this right, you’re not reversing the polarity on the motor still.

Yes, you can do this with two switches. I wouldn't recommend it. They would need to be DPST and preferably momentary.
This is what would relace that one DPDT switch:

You would be making it more complicated than it needs to be and if you had both switches on at the same time you would short the battery.

my .02

 

[Elkman]

Heres a quick video explaining in better detail (I hope) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPorf5RIbL8...player_embedded. Though you pretty much did answer my question on your first post but I still want to know if I can make the disk tray go in and out with one battery and 2 switches.

I think MasterAnubis is correct: you aren't reversing the polarity on the motor. Try the first circuit that you had, but reverse the wires to the battery. Take the wire that was going to the positive terminal and swap it to the negative terminal, and vice versa. Then, pull the drive tray out and connect the battery and push the switch. Instead of ejecting the tray, it should pull the tray in.

As far as switches go, you can do it with one switch, like this double-pole double-throw center off switch from Radio Shack. You'll only need one switch to do this, as long as you wire up the reversing switch like I posted in that tutorial from instructables.com.

I'll see if I can post a schematic later this evening, but it might take me a while.

 

[Darkershadow]

You don't have to hurry with the schematic I can easily get a new switch, because I don't want to make this confusing if it doesn't have to be.