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This shows you how to build an arcade style crane game out of scrap parts. The basic parts are: a motorized assembly that raises and lowers a claw, ...
The first thing we will do is to get each motor working with a controller. Use a joystick with potentiameter to controll the speed and di...
Next we need to control a stepper motor the potentiometer on the joystick. Hardware: Joystick - Arduino (analog in) - Arduino (digital...
The next thing to do code-wise is to jam together the controls for the stepper motor and DC motor so you can control both at once. If you...
I used the EasyDriver from SparkFun along with a NEME17 stepper motor during ...
It is hard to work on something up over your head, so I built this smaller test rig. This is made out of scrap parts, so I am not going to go int...
This steps shows the two motors mounted together on the test rig. I am using small wooden weels that fit on the axis of the stupper motor. I used...
We are going to raise and lower the claw by winding up a string on a spindle attached to this large white gear on the DC motor. I found a dowel tha...
The dowl might work fine as is, but it seems that it should be narrow in the middle and larger at each end. I have a wood lathe so I used that to tur...
I used some very hot glue to attache the wooden spindle to the plastic gear. I applied the glue to the bottom of the wooden peice and then jamed it ...
Here is my first test using the spindle. My younger daughter was very excited to try this, but then gets very upset during the video.... This work...
Before making the claw I did a little planning. I drew a sketch of what I thought would work and then put together a cardboard mock up (made from an ...
I took my paper model down to the basement and looked for computer parts that might work. I used two mice along with strips of plastic cut from th...
Now that we have some strips of plastic they will need to be cut to useful sizes. I am using some thin plastic so I cut them easly with light duty t...
I used the cardboard model as a template when assembling the mouse claw. Steps - - Hot glue a peice of plastic between the mouse parts to make ...
I found another thumb joystick, so we'll use that to control the opening and closing of the claw. This is the same code used to control the spi...
Here is all the code jamed together. Now we can run the stepper motor back and forth along the track, raise and lower the claw, and open and clos...
The test rig is meant to be scalable. All that you should need is longer strips of wood for the two tracks. However, once I started looking at longe...
The first thing to do is to cut the J-channel rails to length. So, I measured the doorframe (about 5') and headed down to the basement. When you c...
The J-channel will be mounted to some MDF (wood) and then the MDF will be screwed to the door frame. It is a good idea to drill some pilot holes in t...
Now that I have changed the railes from strips of wood to J-channels I also need to change the wheels I have jammed onto the stepper motor. The new...
Now it is time to bring all the peices up out of the basement and put it all together. The J-rail will be mounted to peices of MDF. Just like the ...
You will also need to take the motor off the test rig and reassemble to fit the J-channel rails. The new 1-1/2" wheels are just pressed onto the moto...
Now it is time to mount the whole get-up in the doorframe. I used a milk carton to mark the heights of the rails. Then I lifted up the assembly while...
All the wiring should be the same as for the smaller test rig. You just need longer wires! Network cable (cat-5?) works well for this because it ...
I attached the claw to the wooden spindle like this - - tie a loop of wire to the claw - tie a string to this loop - drive a short screw into the ...
Test run Here is a short video - Here is a long video - this was the first attempt
This setup works pretty well. I want to make the whole thing fun and easy to use, so there are a few things that should be improved. The con...
I'm going to try using a different controller. I found a nice one that is for little kids. It is the Leap Frog Baby Little Leaps. This is a very s...
The joystick is made up of a plastic.. well joystick, that presses 4 momentary switches, depening on which direction the joystick is pushed. There a...
The wiring got a bit messy. Basically every pushbutton is connected to a 10K pull-down r...
Since this controller is just a bunch of switches, we can throw away all the code that had to do with the potentiameters that were in the thumb joys...
Now it is time for a test run with the new controller. The whole thing is nice and sturdy, and the kids understand what it is. You can check out t...
I just think this is funny:
I've continued this project here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-big-crane-game/
The dowl might work fine as is, but it seems that it should be narrow in the middle and larger at each end. I have a wood lathe so I used that to turn the dowl down into a shape that looked right.
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