Rotary Encoder

Hi Folks,

I'm a newbie to this forum but bring some experience and knowledge that I hope to impart.

I am looking for a cheap reliable rotary encoder of the incremental type to use on a quilting/sewing machine stitch regulator. The encoders I need will provide simple pulses in the X & Y plane to input into a micro to provide a proportional resistance output. (has anyone on this forum done this??)

There are all sorts of rotary encoders out there but most are very expensive and are quadrature type or more complex.

All I need is a simple slotted disk type that will provide simple pulses upwards of 500PPR with a pulsed output in any voltage range, but preferably around TTL level.

A photointerrupter would also do, but the PPR needs to up there and it should be mountable by a belt or cog drive.

Any ideas most welcome!

Kind regards
Maarten
VK6KCI

Would this work for you?

73, de wa7ark

Hi MikeMI,

The basic operation is ok, but it looks like a volume pot type encoder. These would probably be ok, but it needs to sit on a frame where it will be continuously moving back and forth.

Also would like to have around 500PPR resolution so small movements in any direction will send enough signal to the micro to get things started.

The application I am working on is basically a sewing machine with the needle down, so need some starting pulses without breaking the needle.

Regards
Maarten

Sounds like you need one of the expensive optical shaft angle encoders

Find a busted servo motor with an optical encoder on it, throw away the motor, and keep the encoder.

Whats the speed (RPM) that the encoder will be running at?

Theres this one which is 128PPR. **broken link removed**
Anything else is probably going to be big bucks.

Thanks Jeff,

I would like enough PPR to get some pulses when moving a sewing machine with the needle down.

The theory is..... there should be enough flex in the needle and material on the quilting frame to get at least a few pulses if the sewing machine is pushed in any direction.

The question is..... will 128PPR be enough given that I will be using a Picaxe at 4Mhz, but with a real instruction per cycle rate of much less than that. In addition, I will need to add code that double checks that movement actually occurred in order to avoid false starting.

I guess that one way to find out is to try it, so I'll order some and start writing the code.

If it's not too far away, I'll post the results.

Thanks for your help and URL.

Regards
Maarten VK6KCI

In a project I did for work, I recently used a US Digital E3 optical encoder kit with an incremental disk. I think when everything was said and done it ran me $80 though.

**broken link removed**

There are 5 pins on the E3. Channel A, B, Index, +5V and Ground. I only used a disk with a 64 CPR because the resolution wasn't very high for the application.


How about taking apart an old mouse (the kind that uses a ball)? There should be two optical encoders. One for the X and one for the Y axis. You'll have to probe the leads to figure out which is which though.

can anyone help me here or give an idea how to check and to know the rotary encoder if this damage or not?


thanks,

jeys said:

can anyone help me here or give an idea how to check and to know the rotary encoder if this damage or not?


thanks,

Click to expand...

You do not mention a make and model? Power it and see if pulses output when it is rotated.

Ron

If you only need pulses and don't care about direction then you can just use a slotted disk with an interrupter type optical sensor such as this.