Weapon help

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

Hello.
So what I want to do is make a lifter that has a slow action, much like Rory has in Richie, or Panic Attack's lifting forks. The best way to do this is with a tiny linear acuator or a threaded screw...thingy like in a car jack, but I'm rubbish at all that.
So, can I get the action I want with my existing weapon servos in any way? I'm not really talking linkages as I can never engineer those properly, but is there something I can go into on the transmitter to programme it to do this? I know I can adjust the rate of travel and stuff that makes it go further, but I want it slower and controlled on the throttle channel.
Ta loves.

PS I run a DX6i

[EpicentrE]

Honestly, what you've suggested for the first option is definitely the easiest. You can get m2 threaded rod easily, stick it on the end of a gearmotor shaft, put a nut on it, stick the nut to a piece of polycarb/something else, and attach that to the rest of your mechanism. You can just control it with any standard ESC if you don't need positional control, as long as you're careful when controlling it not to stall it at either end. Otherwise, putting a limit switch at either end of travel is a very simple circuit.

Fancier transmitters may have a way to slow down the speed at which a servo will travel to your desired position, but the DX6i doesn't have this option at least as far as I can tell. You could also just buy a slow servo; there's some that take over a second to do 60 degrees.

[haz]

I could probably make you some threaded rod contraption that just slots right on a motor shaft if you wanted to go that way?

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

See Scott, that doesn't sound simple to me at all. I can't work out how to "stick a rod on a gear motor" without it falling off or being wonky or whatever. I think you gravely overestimate my skills! Bear in mind the only way I've managed to make successful flippers so far is to just bolt an arm to a servo horn. Linkages baffle me.
Haz, that might be cool. Though I genuinely thought there'd be a simpler way.

On a tangent, does anyone have any experience with the mini linear actuators like these?
http://www.robotshop.com/en/firgelli-actuators.html

They seem to just plug in like a servo, but are they more for micro humanoids and things rather than ant weaponry?

[Rapidrory]

Just get someone to make/ 3d print an adapter to attach a screw thread to a gear motor and the rest is relatively easy... I'm thinking of using a similar screw thread system at some point so I'll be interested to see how you get on :L

[Max]

Can you not just use an ordinary servo, plug it into the servo channel then just manually move the throttle stick slowly? That's about as lower tech a solution I can think of!

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

That's what I currently do Max! But its not as slow and controlled as I'd like. Maybe I should just buy slower servos (though these aren't exactly quick)

[earthwormjim]

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... oC7Sbw_wcB
Weighs 3g
Any good Dave ?
(Its from hobbyking, I'm afraid!)

[Remote-Controlled Dave]

That looks good Jim (HI JIM!!) except A) It's from Hobbyking and B) I don't understand it.

[earthwormjim]

Hi Dave!
Been out of the loop for a while, sorry to have missed the last few events. Looks like I have missed a lot of great stuff !!
Looks like it would do the job, and it only weighs 3g. £6 isnt too bad either ( although Hobbyking shipping can bite you in the ass though!). I am guessing that that you plug the servo in one end, and the reciever in the other, and twiddle the knobs until it either does what you want, or it breaks / catches fire (which is usually what happens when I play with stuff like that!).

FYI, I have just been locked in a toilet for the last hour and a half! I hate Mondays!!!