The first obstacle to face for this project was to create a linear actuator useful for the foreseen movements.

After lot of try and retry, here is the fourth version of linear actuator, with these characteristics:

• solid enough to move a 10/15Watts panel
• quite resistant to rain,dust and wind
• simple to assemble, no screws to hold the pieces together
• a mechanism to lock shaft to limit

About the engine, the choice fell on N20 tiny motor

We used the 6V 30rpm version, to ensure we had enough force to lift the panel.

Very slow but for sun movements is enough.

Here the 3d object:

and the hardware you need to assemble:

Some useful info for build:

• We used PETG. PLA is not suitable for this kind of objects
• Always printed in draft mode (0.28), support enable only if you need perfect hole (you can use screwdriver to enlarge and/or clean)