I am new to Pololu and Robotics&Electronics as a whole, so please excuse illiteracy
Let me quickly introduce you to project… This is a toy, me and my brother have made, it is made out of plexiglass (cutted using laser cutter technology). We like it as it is, but it would be verry cool, if it could rotate! So that leads me to you, asking for any advices and opinions about how this 1.80m tall wheel can be made to rotate slowly… What type of motor is it good to be used? Should I connect it to a smaller wheel, so it can rotate more easily? I would be very useful to know where I can find more information about this type of issue online?
You can see the toy in the attached file.
Every answer is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
Peter.
Cool project. To get started on a motorized solution, I recommend first figuring out how much torque you need to get the wheel to rotate at the speed you want it to. For that, you might find this blog post on force and torque useful. Once you have determined the torque you need, you could then start looking for an appropriate motor and controller.
By the way, I can think of two possible methods for driving the wheel that you might want to consider. One is to drive it from the axle, similar to how a wheel on a vehicle is usually powered. The other is to have a smaller drive wheel that presses against the rim of the main wheel and rotates it with friction; this would lower your torque requirements, might allow for more flexibility in where you mount your motor, and is how most real Ferris wheels are driven (I think).
