Need help determining what devices I need ...

[Clover]

Hello all,

Great forum here. I have some questions I hope you can help me with. I want to know what types of devices / options would be needed in order to reverse the current from a DC battery(ies) in order to alternate the current at say a 2 second interval going to this DC motor. Basically I would like to know how to do what is represented in THIS video.

From my understanding, reversing the current to a DC battery will reverse its operating direction, I want to do that, just in staggered intervals, back and forth repeatedly while the motor is on.

I don't mind reading topics regarding this either, so if you have any links or suggested websites to what I'm talking about please link them and I will read up. With such a plethora of information on the internet I just didn't know where to start.

Thanks

 

[Sceadwian]

hmmmmmm Shiatsu massager <purrs>
Just got one for my wife this last Christmas, I use it more than she does =P


Information, especially if you just want a desired effect is going to be plentiful. Do you just want to switch the rotation of a motor or do you need a specific motion such as is described in the video, because that would require a gearbox and position feedback from the motor to a controller. Not exactly a good place to start if you're clueless =)

Could you explain your overall idea and goal as opposed to the one little glimpse you've shared so far? We don't mind reading and the more you can explain about what and more importantly WHY you want to do whatever is you're asking about rhe better we'll be able to explain to you what might be a sensible course of action.

 

[Clover]

Sceadwian,

Thanks for the response. Haha, yeah, it something like a massager of sorts. In short, I want to build it. Something like a hand-held massager. The rotating head would be smaller. When I imported the motor from DC Motors, Gearheads, Coreless, Brushless and Small DC Motors, Encoders, Drive Electronics | MicroMo, it was in metric and when I modeled that rotating head I didn't change the units from English, so it is exaggerated towards the large side. I would like for it to be lightweight and portable. So in my mind, I wanted to power the motor with no larger than a AA battery, or two (if possible). I'd show you a full picture of what my idea is, but I haven't modeled everything (anything) yet due to motor size (if its torque requirements aren't high enough) and just general plumbing. Plus, as you just stated, it would require a gearbox and position feed back which is more electronics and things to account for So I needed to have that stuff nailed down before I continued modeling things. Hope that gives you an idea of where I'm heading.

For me, I have no problems learning, and have a basic understanding of electronics and reading schematics and such. I guess what would be helpful for me is just knowing what components make up the gist of what I'm trying to do and then I can branch out my learning from there.

 

[MikeMl]

Read up on the H-Bridge; about 10% of the Posts on these fora seem to be about them.....

 

[Sceadwian]

Electronics is the LEAST of your worries. You have torque/rotation requirements that you've not well defined and are required to be before you can advance to prototyping the electronics, the physics alone are difficult because of the high torque involved and safety issues.

One thing I can tell you is that a few AA's is not going to cut it, to do what you want would require modest power, at least if you wanted it to last more than about 60 seconds. If it's actually for a personal massager trust me you will also require heat, which is totally not practical with battery power, I would strongly suggest you start with a power wire. Nothing wrong with the idea, but before you go defining your absoulte requirements, please learn as much as you can about the practicalities from every aspect, as that's the only chance you have of succeeding.

At this stage it's techincally 'off topic' for the forusm, but there are plenty of people here that are knowledgable about general engineering topics as well, and it's going to lead to electronics as well, so a good place to start.

 

[Clover]

Thanks for the help guys, I've got some reading to do.