Door Servo Research
Happy New Year everyone. Slow day today. Doing some research for my door panels and servos needed.
Been chatting back and forth with Chris Grootjans in Belgium on how he went about it. Here’s a cool video of his setup using micro servos directly attached to the Robart Hinges. I really like the solution because it doesn’t need any extra push rods etc and everything is more self contained.
Full details of Chris’ setup can be found here.
Right now I’m toying with the idea of just ordering a few mini servos from ebay. Typical cost is $20 shipped for 4 vs buying them domestically where one would cost at least that much. Size is around 22mm x 27mm x 11mm, but I’ve seen them as small as 20x17x9.
Update: I never did receive my servos from china, so buyer beware, the good news PayPal refunded my money.
Calvin Thomas remarks on January 2nd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
That is UNREAL!!!
I’ve got to figure out away to build that setup. I have no way to make the resin parts,
So I’ll have to find another solution for mounts.
Calvin
Chris remarks on January 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Yeah, it’s good isn’t it?
If all that you’re doing is opening up a few doors then no need to make resin parts. I think he’s doing it to save time because he wants to open lots of panels/doors.
I’m hoping to make something similar out of small blocks of aluminum or acrylic. Should be very easy to cut and tap.
Doug Emes remarks on January 4th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Scrap wood, or plastic block should work fine
for making the mounts… and thats only if you dont use a thin “C” shaped piece of metal to mount onto the “pad” of the hinge, then you can attach the servo body to the other “prong of it”
Chris remarks on January 11th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Good point. Hoping my servos will arrive tomorrow so I can experiment with them over the weekend.
kamp remarks on February 17th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Chris I like the approach I am reworking my dome right now so it is all apart. Do you think these are a good alternative for dome panels?
Could you give me an ebay item number so i know what I am going for?
Chris remarks on February 17th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Alas, my servos from China have yet to arrive. It’s 5 weeks and counting. I can’t recommend anyone right now. I did grab a few of the HS-55’s from Tower Hobbies, but I’ve not installed them on anything yet. I’m pretty sure Chris Grootjans is using a similarly sized servo.