[nzlug] Controlling a basic servo-motor ...

[Mark Foster]

Hiya Bernard,

You may find that PICAXE is something you want to look into.
I was witness to a presentation by Stan Swann about PICAXE in October and 
it is impressively simple for someone who wants to get involved in the 
electronics and micro-side of things.

http://www.picaxe.orcon.net.nz/

Might be worth a look?

Cheers
Mark.



On Sat, 1 Dec 2007, Bernard O'Leary wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'd like to spend a bit of time over Christmas messing with a servo-motor.
> Initial goal is to get my head around how to control it via the serial port,
> more long term to be able to apply the techniques I learn to small-scale
> robotics projects.
>
> Am hoping to be able to be able to do things from (more-or-less) first
> principals - write the device driver that will be the source of the PCM
> signal, some sort of controlling application, etc. I'm aware that there is
> some risk of damaging the servo if it is sent a PCM signal that is out of
> range.
>
> At this stage I'm looking for pointers, advise, and answers to a few
> questions. For example - is it advisable to test the serial port output
> using an oscilloscope prior to hooking up the servo? And is it sweet to hook
> the serial port output directly to the PCM signal input on the servo, or
> should there be some hardware in-between? What is the recommended way to
> power a servo (I assume the serial port lacks the necessary juice
> requirements)? etc ...
>
> Clearly I'm no electronics engineer. I do have some basic digital
> electronics experience and knowledge though, and tons of textbooks. One way
> or the other I'll be going ahead with this project - so some time (and
> potentially harware) saving guidance would be appreciated ;-)
>
> Ta,
>
> Bernard.
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