Battery Powered Turntable for Shooting Video

3D Printer (generic)

Soldering iron (generic)

Arduino Pro Mini 328 - 5V/16MHz

Boost Converter

18650 single cell battery

Rotary Encoder

SparkFun Motor Driver - Dual TB6612FNG (1A)

Buck Converter

Watch the full video on YouTube or continue reading the article.<div class="se-component se-video-container __se__float-none" contenteditable="false" style="width: 100%;"><figure style="width: 100%; height: 56.25%; padding-bottom: 56.25%; margin: 0px;"><iframe frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/or4wcMsPPiA" data-proportion="true" data-percentage="100%,56.25%" data-size="100%,56.25%" data-align="none" style="width: 100%; height: 100%;" data-index="0" data-file-size="0" data-origin="100%,56.25%"></iframe></figure></div>A while ago I modified an old electric TV stand to become a motorized turntable which I'll use to shoot some video.The key problem was that this TV stand was not designed for a full 360° turn. In order to overcome this issue I removed the inner gear and replaced it with a new 3D printed version.<figure><img src=https://projects.arduinocontent.cc/2d1e4279-9a4e-4dde-8d33-ea8f19264043.png /><figcaption>A new 3D printed inner gear</figcaption></figure>Now this was able to rotate a full turn. But that project was still is not finished... until now. I had to hook up some external power supply in order to let it turn.But this project is about replacing some external power supply with an Arduino powered controller box which has a neat little display and a rotary knob to easily set things up. Also the entire unit has a rechargeable battery with a charge and protection circuit!<figure><img src=https://projects.arduinocontent.cc/64bc24b4-6376-4025-b06b-ce2c6d994b6d.png /><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The inside seems pretty messy. But that is for a reason. I wanted to make this case as small as possible without making a custom PCB. So I did not put any pin headers in place but instead directly soldered small wires from one pin to another.<figure><img src=https://projects.arduinocontent.cc/9b31c74c-f8b2-4d46-84aa-183005c01bdc.png /><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>This assembly also features an optical rotary encoder which I salvaged from an old desktop printer. It is currently not in use by this firmware. But this will be later used to do stuff like PID, running synchronized with a motorized slider or simply to precisely rotate to a target angle.<figure><img src=https://projects.arduinocontent.cc/596fe93b-9f00-4db3-8baf-1ba71eda50dd.png /><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>I had a ton of fun making this project. And I hope you find this interesting!Cheers and happy hacking :)

Battery Powered Turntable for Shooting Video

A 3D printed, battery powered box that includes an Arduino, an OLED display and a rotary encoder is used to control a motorized turntable.