DIY (motorized) roller base from Lego

[stiganas]

Here there's no way I can found a used roller and even on ebay europe the offer is very slim. The US ones are abundant but operate on 120V and the shipping is expensive.

So, in my quest for cheap alternative I discovered the big box with lego brix my sons are not using anymore.

This is version 1.0



Is working, is OK but it is manual. After two processing I start to look after some lego motors. I didn't found the simple motor but the lego mindstorm RCX first generation. I didn't found the serial cable, I don't have a serial port anymore so no programming. But the program in memory is turning the motor and this is enough. Here is the result:

version 1.2 (belt drive), 1.1 was geared.



and here is a small clip


the speed is app. 25rpm. Now I have to do a real test with film.

[William Whitaker]

That's slicker than Dektol on a doorknob!

[Michael Cienfuegos]

Really cool, but I would first smoke test it with a liquid load on board to be sure it would work perfectly before trying it with any film.

Good Job!

[Heespharm]

Really cool, but I would first smoke test it with a liquid load on board to be sure it would work perfectly before trying it with any film.

Good Job!

And also maybe run it for an hour to make sure it doesn't quit on you mid development... But yeah very very very cool!

[stiganas]

It operates at 9v, worst case scenario I'll fry the board or the motor. No mater what I don't plan to do an 1 hour development and leave the house.

The usual development time is 6-15 minutes, rotating by hand is boring. Yes, it is a real risk of nimh running out of juice, the brick have a power port (it is first generation) so I can can use a 9V DC power adapter but it is easier to continue manually if I run out of power.

The lego parts are the ones found in every box and, again, I have somewhere in the house the dumb lego motor with just an on/off switch, I prefer the dumb motor with a switch.

It will be cool to program the brick to do some funky rotation, select from different rotation programs, etc. For this I have to find the serial cable, an old compatible PC and learn programing.

I did a test with a film strip and is fine.

[Steven Tribe]

This has given me another idea for a roller base.

I have quite a few "toy" steam engines with pulley systems to drive small machines. I'd certain save on the electricity bill.

[Heespharm]

All my commercial roller bases switch direction of rotation throughout its cycle... Does Lego make a programable chip so you can do that too??

[Tin Can]

This is US based, but there must be an EU equivalent.

Robot parts, motors, gearboxes, wheels, controls...

I have bought some things from them and all of it is good cheap gear.

https://www.pololu.com/

[Kirk Gittings]

sweet

[Drew Wiley]

Over the long haul, protecting electronics and drive systems from the effects of moisture and potentially corrosive chemicals adds an additional layer of warranted forethought.