Did you use only for top off? It would be awesome to make dyi stepper motor based doser like ghl with esp32 or raspberry zero control.
Ultimately it will be used on a calcium reactor. But at the moment, I'm just putting it through its paces... and I'm sure im over due for an update on accuracy... I will do it this weekend and see how it maintained flow rates...Very nice build!
$100 is a great price for the entire project. And it looks a lot better than mine.
What's the price of that pump?
I have to admit, the control code for it looks pretty slick. They have a youtube video of it in operation, and the controls are a beauty. Supposedly you can also drive it over USB, so, you could hook it to a reef-pi or something pretty easily. Even if you don't use the project box, I bet you could just use the code for the one you built and it would work perfectly with no modifications.
No offense taken, I opted not to use the ardiuno and simply purchased a driver and controller for the stepper. I had plans of giving it all the bells and whistles, but my coding skills are less than on par. I went with what I knew. This was simply a proof of concept for me, I wanted to see if I had the capability to make one.... not owning a 3D printer and seeing your post makes me want one even more!!!I have to admit, the control code for it looks pretty slick. They have a youtube video of it in operation, and the controls are a beauty. Supposedly you can also drive it over USB, so, you could hook it to a reef-pi or something pretty easily. Even if you don't use the project box, I bet you could just use the code for the one you built and it would work perfectly with no modifications.
Not trying to knock what you've done so far. Your build is awesome, especially the pump head, but speaking as a lazy programmer, I am all about re-using code that already exists.
You know, I looked and looked.... and looked for a reasonably priced peristaltic pump like that and couldn't find anything. That is worth purchasing to see how well they work.
The silicone tubing I am currently using has an inner diameter (ID) of 6mm and an outer diameter (OD) of 9mm. When making the pump, I took that into consideration when I designed the pivoting frame, I left a 3.048mm gap between the rollers and frame. this morning the new tube showed up with 6mm ID 8mm OD. The thinner wall of the tube prevented the roller to pinch off the tube to prevent a siphon. I would have to cut a new pivot frame to accommodate the new tube. The only time it would pinch would be if the motor stopped with a roller sitting at the 12 o'clock position. I didn't have the time to cut it, so I ended up taking the pivot frame off and put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degree, it made it pliable enough to bring the sides in 1mm. That didn't work so well because the position of the right side of the frame didn't change in reference to the rotary head, in other words, it didn't pinch off the smaller tube.
With that in mind I still made one out of the thinner walled tube and timed it to feed 500ml.
6mm x 9mm Low Setting 1:37
6mm x 8mm Low Setting 2:09
6mm x 9mm High Setting 1:05
6mm x 8mm High setting 1:33
For the time being I will keep with the 6mm x 9mm for the tests, and will make this my base line, in 4 weeks I will run tests again and hope for consistency.
Keeping in mind that this is just a prototype and hope to get input for improvements.
I just happened to be home when the pump kicked on, it's a bit noisy, I suspect it's from the washers on the rotary head. But you can also hear noise from the stepper motor too, and that will be something that can't really be changed unless we find a quieter motor.
where abouts?
Most of the time spent was in the design phase, that took me a few days, working on it here and there. but once it was ready to be cut, it took less than 8 hours to go from raw material to finished product.
