Looking for an Oscillating/Rotating Actuator

Figured I give it a shot, maybe one of you know. I have a Halloween project that involves the Captain's wheel on a ship. I want the wheel to rock back and forth like it's being steered (mega pics coming of the entire project.)

From below the "deck" under the wheel I hacked an oscillating fan from Goodwill, using the normally fixed portion of the oscillating arm of the fan connected to fishing line up to the wheel. As the fan motor rocks the oscillating bar back and forth it transfers up to the wheel with the fishing line, it worked perfectly, the captain's wheel rocked back and forth.

For about 2 hours ..... the motor burned up. :-\ There is very little resistance in the rocking mechanism, I'm thinking the motor fried because the fan was no longer on it, or maybe that's why it wound up at Goodwill. On my second fan hack to find out.

Does anyone know of a device that will provide a rocking back and forth action?

All I need is for it to rock back and forth, unmonitored, without an Arduno LOL. What works with an oscillating fan is the worm gear because it moves slowly.

I've been searching for weeks and the closest I can come are lots of linear actuators like pictured below, but it's at least $50 for 2" of travel. It doesn't rock back and forth and I can make it work, but out of budget for a Halloween project.

RC servos won't work because I don't want to futz around with a controller.


Hoping for power source 120VAC, but I have tons of adaptors if I have to go 12/6VDC.

 

I would look for a cheap small DC motor gearbox with the rpm you want for the desired frequency of motion, maybe something like 6 rpms so you have a the captain's wheel move up and down every 10 seconds. Similar motor that cordless screwdrivers have. The gearing ratios are so high, it would have plenty of torque to move the wheel up and down.

Then just make a 4 bar linkage to give you the right ratio for motion. You run the motor in just one direction but the 4 bar linkage will pull and push the captains wheel to get both clockwise and anti clockwise motion.

DC saves a lot of headaches in terms of safety (wiring practices, shock, fire, etc).

 

Dewalt drill motors and their transmissions were always a favorite on robotics projects, and I see a lot of old drills at thrift shops.

Car window motors too.

 

Thanks, these are good ideas, I was trying to avoid making a cam system because with tools and materials available to me it would probably not be well milled and make matters worse. I have a second fan I'm going to try, Going to swing by D & B Supply today, they often have some weird stuff you don't expect.

 

So I set up the second Goodwill fan, appears to be working but not real confident on "how long." I picked this one up, it is worm gear driven, 10 RPM with no load, 10KG/cm which should be plenty of torque for the light push/pull. Under load it may move a bit slower. Now I just have to find hardware to fit the shaft and make a cam system that will work LOL.

 

THATS how I could make a retractable tent come out the back door of my cap but i can’t figure this out. Good luck on your project, Bill! Def want to see this in action.

 

I can’t really help.
But this is one of the reason I love TacomaWorld.
Threads like this……


Watching for no reason other than to see the outcome.

 

That’s a good idea.

 

This is but a small part, I have a video ready, waiting for ambiance sounds. Spoiler alert: I have a 32 foot X 7 foot pirate ship in my yard with a 20 foot mast. All built out of scrap that would normally be thrown away, no organized wood recycling here.

Sneak peek . . . it's currently wired with fishing line that goes below the deck, it works, but thinking this motor will burn out too, hence the 12V motor.

 

Almost done, mechanicals are all built, received motor, waiting on the flange adapter but in the meantime, see the overall project in this thread.

 

@Steves104x4 and @TnShooter (and anyone else interested) I figured it would be easier to demonstrate this way. YT gave me some crap about copyright, I paid for one time use in this video so the Rumble link is also included. Dispute submitted, but in any case it's a stupid song that sounded pirat-ey, stupid me LOL Special thanks to @mitt22 for giving me a push in the right direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxbcHdTnqx4

https://rumble.com/v3rhbdr-animate-the-captains-wheel-halloween-2023.html

And that's IT for this year, time for a party! Next year, if there is one, learn to prog an Arduno and animate a skeleton swordfight!

Too ambitious? NAAAAAAAAH!

 

That is pretty cool.
Fairly simplistic once you “see” how it works.

 

That is awesome! Bravo!

 

Great job on the execution.