• How it started

    Jeremy • 14 hours ago • 0 comments

    This project came about at SuperCon (2024). While listening to presentations, my brain drifted off, thinking about actuators without gears and how to get away from the traditional loud noise of servo motors. I daydreamed about various gearless actuators that would be fun to play with. 

    For a hot minute I went down a rabbit hole looking at HAZEL actuators, which are really interesting. The research on them also provides instructions for how you can build them at home. However, the sticking point for me was that these actuators must be powered by well over 1,000 volts.

    Ultimately, I landed on tubular linear motors, which you get if you unroll a stepper motor in a straight line. In the tubular variety, the magnets are placed in a tube that run inside electromagnetic coils.

    https://www.a-m-c.com/experience/technologies/motor-type/linear/

    The only problem was, I found limited step-by-step information on how to build one at home. Searching turned up a lot of videos of people showing off their motors (like this one), but no information about how they created them.

    The Plan

    I decided to start my journey using this research as my guide. In this configuration, the magnets are positioned inside the tube with like-poles facing each other. This helps to concentrate their magnetic fields and, in theory, improves the motor's power output.

    I've never built a motor before, or created a stepper motor driver from scratch. I understand the basic principles, but I know there are a lot of fine details that make them work and run smoothly. In short, I've got a lot to learn.