Newbie question - button to activate 4 servos

Support Servo controllers and servos
1

Hi all,

I hope this question hasn’t already been answered, so forgive me if it already has!

I am very new to electronics, so know very little about it, though can do basic soldering. I am currently trying to make a replica film prop, which has 4 small compartment doors. i want these doors to open and shut at the same time, using a button or switch.

What is the best way to control four servos with one button? Pressed once or to ‘on’ to make the doors open, pressed again or to ‘off’, to make the doors shut.

I presume i need a servo controller of some sort? Is there any kit that i can buy that i dont need to program?

Any help of information on this would be great. I look forward to your replies.

Thanks

lewis

2

Do you have to use servos?

If you don’t want to program (if you want to use servos you almost definitely are going to need to, look up Pulse Width Modulation) then what about solenoids? They would be much simpler to control without programming and are cheaper and could quickly be built on a breadboard. It all depends on how big your set is and if you need high torque to move the doors.

3

It didnt have to be servos, i just thought that was the best way.

Each door would be about 5x5 inches, made of fibre glass with some aluminium parts. So not too heavy.

Something like this was what i was thinking, but with four servos.

This one seemed relative easy to do:

active-robots.com/products/m … ervo.shtml

4

Hello,
Our Micro Maestro USB Servo Controller makes this kind of thing pretty easy. You will have to do a little programming, but we have lots of examples, including an example of how to control a motion sequence with a button press, and it is all done through a single configuration application that should be a quick install for you.

-Paul