The Mechaduino is an affordable, open-source, industrial servo motor. Position, torque, velocity, and custom modes. Arduino compatible.
It’s basically a little board that attaches to a NEMA 17 stepper motor providing closed-loop control. The demos are really cool.
I’m interested in building a few of these for myself, and wondering if there is any interest in doing a group build. So right now this is just a temperature-check for interest.
@Jarrett put together a BOM from digikey (not including the passives, which we should be able to find at VHS) and it’s looking like the cost per unit will be less than US$10, plus the board, plus the motor.
Update Mon, June 13:
The following people have indicated interest:
@lukecyca: 3
@TomKeddie: 1
@ninetynein: 1
@packetbob: 3
@Jarrett: 1
@dhylands: 6 (shipped as kits)
@jon: 2 (shipped as kits)
@Daniel_DeGagne: 1
@Janet: 1
@rsim: 7
@dbynoe: 4
@doug: 4
@Majicj: 1
TOTAL: 35
Boards
@TomKeddie has offered to take care of ordering the PCB boards. He’s getting 40, so we’ll have some spares.
BOM
@Jarrett has put together the BOM here: Digi-Key - Fast Add, which works out to $21/unit USD, or about $29/unit CAD. That puts the total cost at $30+ CAD per unit (depending on shipping or anything else that comes up). The stepper motor is not included of course.
After checking at VHS for any parts that we already have (headers, diodes, maybe caps) I’ll put this order in for 40 units.
Update Thurs, June 23
I have created a Tilt to collect money. See details below.
Update Friday, Aug 5
The kits are ready for pickup, and I have started to distribute them. Please get in touch, or some out to one of the build nights. The contains all of the parts except for the pin headers which most people already have, and are easily sourced from the VHS parts bins.
I created an annotated map of the boards to show where each part goes:
- Mechaduino-top.pdf (661.4 KB)
- Mechaduino-bottom.pdf (120.1 KB)