Lmst

LEGO Orrery Gets A Real-Time Drive Upgrade

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/02/17/lego-orrery-gets-a-real-time-drive-upgrade/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/maxresdefault-4.jpg?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>An orrery is a beautiful type of mechanical contrivance, built to demonstrate the motion of heavenly objects. LEGO happens to offer just such a device, built using its Technic line of blocks, shafts, and gears. Only, it has a serious limitation—it has to be cranked manually to make it spin the Earth around the sun. <a href="https://gorkem.cc/projects/LegoOrreryMod/" target="_blank">[Görkem] set out to fix this glaring oversight with some good old-fashioned hardware.</a></p>
<p>The setup removes just five LEGO pieces from the original design, eliminating the hand crank from the mechanism. In its place, [Görkem] installed a NEMA 17 stepper motor, paired with a custom PCB mounted on the back. That carries an ESP32 microcontroller and a TMC2208 stepper motor driver set up for silent drive. Rigged up like so, the orrery can simulate the motion of the Earth and Moon around the Sun in real time. There’s also a knob to track back and forth in time, and a button to reset the system to the correct real-time position.</p>
<p>The final build looks great, combining the LEGO Technic parts with some chunky electronics and 7-segment displays that make it a wonderful techy desk decoration. Down the line, [Görkem] hopes to offer a plug-and-play kit to others who w

LEGO Orrery Gets A Real-Time Drive Upgrade https://hackaday.com/2026/02/17/lego-orrery-gets-a-real-time-drive-upgrade/
#Science #ToyHacks #ESP32 #MoonPhase #NEMA17 #Orrery #Steppermotor

Scanning Table for the Professional Maker

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/02/10/scanning-table-for-the-professional-maker/

<div><img alt="" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/3D-Printing-A-Most-Over-Engineered-Scanning-Solution-5-5-screenshot-1.png?w=800" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" width="800" /></div><p>Sometimes the simplest objects need some overthinking. This is exactly what [Chris Borge] realized when using his 3D scanner and finding that the included rotation table left quite a bit to be desired — <a href="https://www.printables.com/model/1581544-fixit-system-scanning-videography-turntable" target="_blank">providing him the perfect excuse to build a new one</a>.</p>
<p>One of the main features of a rotation stage is the, well, rotation. This was done in [Chris]’s case with a NEMA 17 stepper motor, perfect for precise rotation of scanning. Hooking up the motor to a basic perf board with an Arduino Nano allows for on the fly adjustments to rotation speed. To really solidify the over-engineering, [Chris] applies his obligatory <a href="https://hackaday.com/2025/04/13/3d-printed-milling-machine-is-solid-as-a-rock/">concrete mix</a> to add some heft to the stage.</p>
<p>While the previous features could be removed/downgraded without much loss, the adjustable grid built into the top adds significant functionality. The grid is based on [Chris]’s past projects, which allows cross compatibility.</p>
<p>We love over-engineering here at Hackaday, especially when adding something new. For more prime

Scanning Table for the Professional Maker https://hackaday.com/2026/02/10/scanning-table-for-the-professional-maker/
#ToolHacks #3dscanning #Arduino #Castconcrete #Steppermotor

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#steppermotor #stepper #jvl #emo #electricmotorsonline #servo #servomotor #engineering

For more information on the JVL range of servo and stepper motors please contact us at EMO

For more information on the JVL range of stepper and servo motors please contact us at EMO

Soo… I bought another plotter. It was close by, dirt cheap, and came with some other goodies I’ll share later.
On power up, the pen carriage homes all the way to the right, but never stops. I don’t see any limit switches, and it goes on for much longer than it would take to do the entire travel.
There’s this flywheel looking thing labeled Ferrofluidics corp, which looks suspiciously fancy (it’s got a serial number).
The stepper motor has 8 wires.
So.. what gives? Anyone know how a mechanism like this would have homed itself, or what that mysterious blue object is?
It’s an intriguing mystery… plus I’d love to actually get this working; it’s a nice medium size between my other two plotters.
#penPlotter #stepperMotor #electronics #retroTech #retroComputing

A very old pen plotter by Houston Instruments

Some sort of flywheel on the end of a stepper motor driving a belt. It’s blue aluminum, made by Ferrofluidics corp

💡 Nouvelle maquette stepper NEMA17 🛠️
🔌 Arduino Nano + CNC shield
🌀 800 pas/tour (1/4 step)
🧊 Radiateurs posés
💥 Bientôt les tests ! Spoiler : ça va aller + vite que sur RPi 🐢

#Arduino #StepperMotor #NEMA17 #Maker #CNC #DIY #Framboise314

🎥 Démo moteur pas à pas 🔁
Rotation lente ➜ accélération ➜ alternance 120° parfaitement calée.
Zéro perte de pas. Zéro glissade.
Disques engrenés à la microseconde près 👌
🛠️ #Framboise314 sera à Nantes Maker Campus du 6 au 8 juin !
#RaspberryPi #StepperMotor #NMC25

Dear lazyweb,

Is there any "standard" stepper motor smaller than the 28BYJ-48 (and with correspondingly less torque), that is similarly common and inexpensive?
Roughly half size (1/8 volume) would be nice.
It doesn't need to have an internal gear train like the 28BYJ-48.
#StepperMotor

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Mifumo ambapo #steppermotor inatumika, hamna #sensors, mfano #IAC!
Kwa #ServoMotor lazima sensor, #throttlebody, nk!

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Hii #usefulapp ina #ujanja wa #controlsystems ata #wiringdiagrams, kupima sensors & actuators, nk! #HapaUjanjaTu #teachyourself #autoelectrical

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It doesn't stop until the motor-timeout is hit, *or* I manually disable motors - at which point the ticking instantly stops.

Any idea why the steppers are still being activated after the print is complete? Does it serve a purpose? Seems like a waste of energy, and needless stress on the hardware.

Running vanilla Klipper version v0.12.0-290-g14a83103c on an #FLSun #V400.

#Stepper #StepperMotor #tick

2/2

A Throne for LEGO Baron Harkonnen https://hackaday.com/2024/07/22/a-throne-for-lego-baron-harkonnen/ #ArduinoHacks #steppermotor #arduinonano #ToyHacks #automata #arduino #stepper #dune #lego

#SonaCollegeofTechnology #Salem
A small town college
Supplied motors for #Chandrayaan3
Developed a #steppermotor for use in the #LVM3rocket that lifted off the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft and placed it into the Earth’s orbit
Was produced by a private company #VeeTechnologies
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/talent-beyond-iits-a-small-town-college-supplied-motors-for-chandrayaan-3/articleshow/103027135.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Hackaday Prize 2023: PAROL6 – A GPL Desktop Robotic Arm https://hackaday.com/2023/08/15/hackaday-prize-2023-parol6-a-gpl-desktop-robotic-arm/ #planetarygearbox #6DOFRobotarm #steppermotor #RobotsHacks #STM32F4 #TMC2209 #rs485

Laser Engraver Uses All of the DVD Drive https://hackaday.com/2023/08/10/laser-engraver-uses-all-of-the-dvd-drive/ #opticaldrive #steppermotor #LaserHacks #carriage #dvddrive #engraver #arduino #gcode #laser #cnc

It's still magical to me when you design something on a computer and wait a few weeks and it comes to your door. It's even better when things fit the way you envisioned they would. #PCB #KiCad #StepperMotor #HardHatBrigade #Maker

Square black PCB with a round stepper motor and two steel rods attached.

Render of square PCB with circular stepper motors attached.

This was a small project I did a few years ago for a friend who was having stepper motor vibration issues. It came out quite nicely, even though the code was a bit rushed.
"Simple Smooth Stepper Motor Motion Control with Polynomial Profiles" : https://github.com/ijm/smoothStepperMotion/blob/main/smoothStepper.pdf
#steppermotor #smoothmotionprofile

This #steppermotor has a resolution of ~1deg. Which is garbage, but still too small to lazily measure by eye to see if my #driver #algorithm has an off-by-one. it's also hard to differentiate from the nitwit #gear ratio of 63.67.

But I realized I could magnify any off-by-one while keeping the gear ratio error constant to check if I really did have a bug. One 2048-step rotation would have one of each, but 512 4-step rotations would have 512 of one and still only 1 of the other.

Result: No bug.

Turning Old Plotter Parts Into a Smooth Camera Slider

Taking apart old stuff and re-using the parts to make something new is how many hackers first got started in the world of mechanical and electronic engineering. But even after years working in industry we still get that tinge of excitement whenever someone offers us an old device "for parts", and immediately begin to imagine the things we could build with the components inside.

So when [Victor Frost] was offered an old Cricut cutting plotter, he realized he could use its parts to create the camera slider he'd been planning to build. The plotter's X stage, controlled by a stepper motor, was ideal for moving a camera platform back and forth. [Victor] wanted to build the entire thing in a "freehand" way, without making a detailed design or purchasing any new parts. So he dived into his parts bin and dug up an Arduino, a 16×2 LCD, some wires and buttons, and a few pieces of MDF.

The camera mount is simply a piece of steel that a GoPro's magnetic mount can latch onto, but [Victor] keeps open the possibility of mounting a proper tripod ball head. The Arduino drives the stepper motor through an Adafruit Motor Shield, with a simple user interface running on the LCD. The user can set the desired end points and speed, and then run the camera back and forth as often as needed. In this way, the software follows the same "keep it simple" philosophy as the hardware design.

If you're planning to build your own camera slider, [Victor]'s design should be easy to copy, if you happen to have an old cutting plotter. If not, you can try this simple yet well-engineered model. Want even more? Then check out this fancy multi-axis camera motion control rig.

#digitalcamerashacks #cameraslider #cuttingplotter #steppermotor

#steppermotor

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