Finishing up the autopanner...

[William Joseph LaFrance]

Hello! The project I've been brainstorming and working on the last few days is what I call an "autopanner", aptly named because it automatically pans a camera back and forth. This will allow us to get very detailed and scans using the Kinect without standing there all day waving it back and forth. Ideally, it'll be a small box that mounts on a tripod using the standard camera mount (a 1/4" 20 bolt, I'm told) and will have the same on the top, which actually spins the camera bolted to it.

Currently, I have a 555 circuit that blinks an LED, and a second that blinks another LED, alternating. Also, there's a potentiometer so you can adjust the rate at which they alternate. To finish this up, I'll be using a servo motor which has it's + and - wired to + and -, and it's signal pin wired to the output on the first 555, which in theory will tell it to spin one direction when high and the other direction when low. When this is done, I can remove the second 555 because it's really only for show. ^_^

After that, I'll need to install a second potentiometer to adjust the speed of the pan, and a power switch to turn the entire thing off. The full set of controls will be two knobs and a switch, allowing you to adjust the speed of the pan, the rate at which the camera switches directions, and turn it off. "Even a kid could use it!"

The problem is that the circuit is on a breadboard, which I'm guessing isn't great for mounting on a camera. Can anyone suggest a method of casing this up? I'm thinking a 2x2x2" box with the controls on the side would be pretty good, and it can sit right under the camera. As far as the electronics, I imagine I would use perfboard and solder accompanied by liberal amounts of electric tape, unless someone cares to educate me in a more professional way.

Thanks for reading!
-Will

[Branden Gunn]

That's not the type of signal the servo would like. It wants to see a pulse of 1 to 2 milliseconds every 20 milliseconds.

I have a prototype board with an avr atmega48 and some servo headers if you want. I even have a small box for it. I can also give you the servo library I am using.

Most tripods are indeed 1/4 20.

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[William Joseph LaFrance]

Cool! Thanks for the input. I'm not sure if I understand - would you need that back or is it something that could be used in the finished project? Or better yet, I could probably use a second 555 to fire the pulse.