A few weeks ago I was showing my previously shared inlaid Masonic cube at my lodge and one guy said he would buy one if I could make it spin. Challenge accepted Found a small 6V low rpm geared motor (link below) that I thought would work. It’s rated from 1-7V and I found that 1.5V gave me ~3 rpm which seemed like a good speed, plus it’s super quiet at that speed. At 1.5V it’s only drawing ~ 15mA so you could run it off a battery if you wanted to, but I opted to run it from a 3V wall plug, that I stepped down to 1.5V with a couple of 10 ohm resistors as a voltage divider. I used some 1/4" dowel to make a couple of motor supports. I was actually very please that, after some careful measurements, everything lined up perfectly on the first cut. Made the box from 1/8" birch ply that I stained and finished with some spray lacquer. Very happy with how it turned out.
Motor - http://www.dx.com/p/type-30-dc-motor-dc-6-0v-15rpm-low-noise-d-shaft-460829#.Wb25J8h95pi
Thanks everyone!
Thanks for the motor link @StephaneBUISSON I hadn’t considered that type.
This project had me bemoaning the closing of my local RadioShack stores. My small electronic components inventory is severely lacking, but thanks to Amazon Prime I now have 49 extra slide switches.
@Nedman I miss RS also but only when I am in a hurry for a part. I found everything and more on Amazon, Adafruit and RS online. BTW RS online has some really good deals these days. I have noticed that if you are not careful you can get cheap switches etc that just fall apart in your hand or die when you solder them …
Also Digikey has a good selection of electronics parts and ships pretty fast and reasonable…
Found a small 6V low rpm geared motor (link below) that I thought would work. It’s rated from 1-7V and I found that 1.5V gave me ~3 rpm which seemed like a good speed, plus it’s super quiet at that speed. At 1.5V it’s only drawing ~ 15mA so you could run it off a battery if you wanted to, but I opted to run it from a 3V wall plug, that I stepped down to 1.5V with a couple of 10 ohm resistors as a voltage divider. I used some 1/4" dowel to make a couple of motor supports. I was actually very please that, after some careful measurements, everything lined up perfectly on the first cut. Made the box from 1/8" birch ply that I stained and finished with some spray lacquer. Very happy with how it turned out.
