on, off, polarity reverse on, off timer project

[blakester]

Alright, new project. I want to make a 2 bottle corking machine for my 100 or so cases of wine every year. I have a preliminary design worked up, and wanted to get some feedback on a couple of things. The essence of the design is this. Put wine bottle on machine, push button activate a linear actuator that extends to insert the crock and retracts. this means I will need to control the polarity so I can run the motor in reverse to retract the actuator. I't s simple design really, the actuators will throw 300 pounds of pressure down (which after checking other commercial ones seems more than enough) and force the cork through a tapered cylinder to compress it before it goes into the bottle. My least area of knowledge is in the electronics. I was thinking of using an on off delay timer x 2 to essentially provide power for 4 seconds, then turn off, and the other timer runs power for an additional 4 second at reverse polarity to retract it. This will be initiated by a click button. I know right off the bat my circuit needs two changes. Because my power supply is 24V 3A DC, the voltage regulator need to be BEFORE the timers, not after. AND at the end of the circuit the diode setup I thought would work won't, because I will end up putting power from both timers after the first activation. I have attached one of the timers I have, nice and inexpensive, but maybe Im overcomplicating it.

 

[Gryd3]

Alright, new project. I want to make a 2 bottle corking machine for my 100 or so cases of wine every year. I have a preliminary design worked up, and wanted to get some feedback on a couple of things. The essence of the design is this. Put wine bottle on machine, push button activate a linear actuator that extends to insert the crock and retracts. this means I will need to control the polarity so I can run the motor in reverse to retract the actuator. I't s simple design really, the actuators will throw 300 pounds of pressure down (which after checking other commercial ones seems more than enough) and force the cork through a tapered cylinder to compress it before it goes into the bottle. My least area of knowledge is in the electronics. I was thinking of using an on off delay timer x 2 to essentially provide power for 4 seconds, then turn off, and the other timer runs power for an additional 4 second at reverse polarity to retract it. This will be initiated by a click button. I know right off the bat my circuit needs two changes. Because my power supply is 24V 3A DC, the voltage regulator need to be BEFORE the timers, not after. AND at the end of the circuit the diode setup I thought would work won't, because I will end up putting power from both timers after the first activation. I have attached one of the timers I have, nice and inexpensive, but maybe Im overcomplicating it.

I would certainly say you are overcomplicating it

Two ways to control this thing:
Without feedback. How do you make sure the device moves as far as you want? You don't really... you can make a robust system that will be strong enough to power through any resistance provided and use a timer... or a stepper motor. This would be the potentially over-complicated circuit that may or may not produce perfect results.
With feedback. This will ensure your device moves the same distance every single time. Even if it takes a second longer. You can use a simple DC motor and a limit switch, or a servo. This would be a simpler circuit that would essentially tell the servo to make 20 rotations for example, or to keep moving the motor forward until it hits the limit switch. If you need to adjust how far it moves, you simply adjust how many servo rotations, or the position of the switch.

 

[blakester]

alright, so I should use feedback rather than convoluted timers, that makes sense. Limit switch seems like a good way to go though I'm not quite sure how I would wire it in yet. Ill draw up some more stuff and come back to see if I'm halfway right. Cheers.

 

[blakester]

Alright, I have tried to incorporate some of what been talked about, I don't have spring loaded Actuators so that's out, but I think it put me along the right path. So here is what I have. A momentary pushbutton to flip a latching relay which energizes the circuit, when the actuator extends, it hits a limit switch, which disables the circuit, flips the initial latching relay back, which because the other limit switch is in the normally closed position now, reverses the circuit until it gets all the way back, and again disables the circuit. Anyways, schematic below, hopefully this is what I'm looking for.

 

[Gryd3]

Alright, I have tried to incorporate some of what been talked about, I don't have spring loaded Actuators so that's out, but I think it put me along the right path. So here is what I have. A momentary pushbutton to flip a latching relay which energizes the circuit, when the actuator extends, it hits a limit switch, which disables the circuit, flips the initial latching relay back, which because the other limit switch is in the normally closed position now, reverses the circuit until it gets all the way back, and again disables the circuit. Anyways, schematic below, hopefully this is what I'm looking for.

That's the general functional idea, although the schematic is a little difficult to follow. I'll have to poke through a little more when I get home tonight.

 

[blakester]

yeah fair enough, I did one up on the computer, might be easier to follow.