Introduction: Arduino Turntable

About: A Software and Electrical Engineer by profession, maker by passion

This turntable was built to allow videos to be taken on some painted bottles. The important features were slow speed and reasonable load capability. The stepper motor used allows for large loads at a very controllable slow speed. This could easily be modified to be used with a 3D scanner to rotate the object being scanned.

Software Needed:

Arduino software - https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

Parts Required:

  1. Arduino Nano Amazon
  2. ULN2003A Stepper driver breakout board (to buy see link for motor)
  3. 5V Stepper Motor 28BYJ-48 Amazon (Stepper motor and driver breakout board kit)
  4. 5.5mm DC Jack Amazon
  5. Bearing 650ZZ 14mm Outer Diameter, 5mm Width, 5mm Inner Diameter qty 6 Amazon
  6. Hardware M5 x 20mm Bolt qty = 6 McMaster-Carr(90128A248)
  7. M5 lock Nut qty 6 McMaster-Carr(90576A104)
  8. Self tapping screws. qty 2 (McMaster-Carr 94997A125)

Tools Required:

Optional Tools:

Step 1: 3D Print the Base and the Lid.

Using the attached STL files print the base and the lid. You can use your printer or send away to an online service such as https://www.shapeways.com/.

Install the bearings using the M5 hardware.

Install the stepper motor into the base using the two self tapping screws.

Fusion 360 Project available here https://a360.co/2UdNqAt

Step 2: Wire Up Circuit

Connect the Nano to the ULN2003A board as shown.

D2 to In4

D3 to In3

D4 to In2

D5 to In1

5V of the Nano goes to +5V of the ULN2003A

GND of the Nano to the - 5V of the ULN2003A

Connect the center pin of the DC jack to Vin of the Nano.

Connect the outside pin of the DC jack to the GND of the Nano.

Plug the stepper into the connector on the ULN2003A driver board.

Step 3: Download the Software

Open the attached turntable.ino file.

Ensure the board type is set to Nano.

Select the USB port the Nano is connected to.

Click the upload button.

To speedup or slow down the turntable change the delaytime, the higher the number the slower the table will turn.

int delayTime = 500;

Install the DC jack into the hole and place the two boards into the base of the turntable, use hot glue to keep in place if required. Remembering that you may want to change the program in the future.

Step 4: Optional Feature to Use With a 3D Scanner

I wont go into detail here on what is required to make this turntable able to work with a 3D scanner but an overview of the required changes.


Change the software so that it turns say 5 degrees and stops, issues a signal to the scanner and waits for an acknowledge signal from the scanner. Use two of the unused digital pins one as an output to the scanner for the scan trigger signal and the other as an input from the scanner to acknowledge scan complete.