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More Torque — Parallax Forums

More Torque

RowanRowan Posts: 2
edited 2009-09-06 02:10 in BASIC Stamp
I am working on a project that involves opening and closing a casement window. The window is opened and controlled using a control shaft mounted at the bottom of the window. The shaft has a hexagonal head and a small lever is attached to the head of the shaft allowing us humans to turn the shaft to open and close the window. Using the shaft's hexagonal head (after removing the lever), I should be able to easily mount a gear to the shaft and, hopefully, turn the shaft with a servo.

Because the shaft can be quite difficult to turn, I need more torque than is supplied by a basic servo. I've looked at hi-torque servos, but they are super expensive (> $100). Are there any other options that would supply more torque than a basic servo?

Alternatively, I could mount a very large gear (I'm guessing about 5" diameter) to the control shaft of the window and couple that to a small gear on the servo. Can anyone recommend a source for such large gears? I've checked in at the local hobby shop, but they only supplied gears for use in RC cars, so they are all rather small.

And, for bonus points, if the window should stick (making it nearly impossible to turn the shaft), is it possible to detect when a servo is not moving at all, so I can shut it down before it gets damaged?

thanks all,
Rowan

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