Category: Computers

Made My Planetarium Star Projector Spin with Arduino Motor

Ingredients:

• 1x Arduino Uno
• 1x Arduino Motor Shield
• 1x ‘2 Wire’ Stepper Motor from an HP inkjet printer
• 1x Rubber band
• 6x Small Wire Ties
• 1x 9v Battery
• 1x Otona no Kagaku Magazine Vol. 9 Pinhole Planetarium Kit 

This updated code removes the switch seen in the video and makes the motor spin automatically about .5 degrees every second. Here is the beta Arduino code sketch:

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

/*
* Switch and LED test program
*/

int ledPin = 5; // LED is connected to pin 12
int switchPin = 0; // switch is connected to pin 2
int val; // variable for reading the pin status
int ledPin6 = 6; // LED is connected to pin 12
int switchPin1 = 1; // switch is connected to pin 2
int val1; // variable for reading the pin status
void setup() {
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // Set the LED pin as output
pinMode(switchPin, INPUT); // Set the switch pin as input
pinMode(ledPin6, OUTPUT); // Set the LED pin as output
pinMode(switchPin1, INPUT); // Set the switch pin as input
//Setup Channel A
pinMode(12, OUTPUT); //Initiates Motor Channel A pin
pinMode(9, OUTPUT); //Initiates Brake Channel A pin

}
void loop(){

//delay(10);

//val = digitalRead(switchPin); // read input value and store it in val
//if (val == LOW) { // check if the button is pressed
//digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // turn LED on
//Serial.begin(9600); // set up Serial library at 9600 bps
//Serial.print(“sw0 on: “);Serial.println(digitalRead(switchPin));

//forward @ full speed
digitalWrite(12, HIGH); //Establishes forward direction of Channel A
digitalWrite(9, LOW); //Disengage the Brake for Channel A
analogWrite(3, 200); //Spins the motor on Channel A at full speed

delay(.1); //// ***** THIS SETS THE ROTATION SPEED .1 is good for slow spin, 10 or 100+ will rotate further

//delay(10);
// }
if (val == HIGH) { // check if the button is not pressed
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // turn LED off
delay(10);

digitalWrite(9, HIGH); //Eengage the Brake for Channel A

//delay(1000);

}

// delay(10);

val = digitalRead(switchPin1); // read input value and store it in val
if (val == LOW) { // check if the button is pressed
digitalWrite(ledPin6, HIGH); // turn LED on
//Serial.print(“on: “);Serial.println(digitalRead(switchPin1));

//backward @ half speed
digitalWrite(12, LOW); //Establishes backward direction of Channel A
digitalWrite(9, LOW); //Disengage the Brake for Channel A
analogWrite(3, 255); //Spins the motor on Channel A at half speed

delay(3000);

delay(10);
}
if (val == HIGH) { // check if the button is not pressed
digitalWrite(ledPin6, LOW); // turn LED off
//Serial.print(“1=off: “);Serial.println(digitalRead(switchPin1));

digitalWrite(9, HIGH); //Eengage the Brake for Channel A

delay(1000);

delay(10);
}

}

 

I plan on adding a potentiometer to control the rotation speed.