Yeah, I went ahead and took a day to change the rotary. It needed done, and I need it, so it's not a wasted day at this point in the contest.

It's got a stepper on it now, and seems to work great. The speed is easy to set, if nothing else. But that's not all, of course. It's also smoother than the DC motor was and I'm guessing that's because the DC motor overheated so much. A geared motor may be even better yet, but I don't have one on hand and I need this thing, like, now.

I still need to come up with a better way to pass the negative line from the center axle to drum, what with the bearings not being conductive from the outer case to the inner hub, but that'll wait for a bit.

I really want to see if I can't blow your socks off with this next series of runs. So, this is what I've got to do it, so it will have to do.

Back in a few days with the results. I hope. Lol.

Oh, I might add one more thing: see those center tabs hanging down on the lower side pieces? Those fit into the cross pieces on the carriage and keep it centered and steady. All the accessories for the machine will have those, making swapping them out painless. I thought it was a nice touch.