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Beginner project

wingnut

Aug 9, 2012
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Hi all
Weaver is a mechanic and wants a beginners project. There are many ways to "convert rotational energy to oscillating" which a quick Google search on "images" shows things like camshafts etc. I personally think I could very easily jiggle a fishing rod with a mechanical device such as shown on http://www.walterruffler.de/Mechan1.html
 

Weaver

Sep 12, 2015
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Well fellas I guess I was using the beginner part rather loosely. The commercial reels are very expensive $10 000, I could build it with toggle switches and relays but the key is it being automatic to make it efficient for fishing, When I said beginner I thought that there may be one component to control the required pattern needed. It does not need to be as fancy as a DNG or an oil wind but I figured with some expertise from here I could get pointed in the right direction and maybe work closely with some of you to make this happen, thanks for all the interest
 

Arouse1973

Adam
Dec 18, 2013
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Hey Weaver. If you give us the timings of the circuit required, then sure we can help.
Adam
 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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Weaver, there's no 'one component' to do the job, but basically two could do it, as we've been discussing - a micro-controller and a H-bridge driver. The H-bridge simply reverses the connections to both sides of the motor, while the micro controls the timings and provides the direction control and speed control if needed.
(I've been assuming you're not simply talking about jiggling a fishing rod as wingnut suggests, but a fixed reel on a boat.)
Did you check out the Arduino and motor driver board that I linked to? It's a fairly cheap, one-piece solution. The motor driver plugs straight in on top of the micro board, double-bunk style. Very small and efficient.
 

wingnut

Aug 9, 2012
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Hi Steve. I agree with you that I don't know any simpler method of electronically doing what Weaver suggests than to use an Arduino and its motor shield. The Arduino is a lovely micro for beginners. One may find in practice that just reeling in and reeling out fishing line without maintaining tension could lead to some horrible overwinds and birds nests which just waving a rod back and forwards might prevent. But think of all the fun Weaver will miss out on by not playing with an Arduino.
 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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Hi Steve. I agree with you that I don't know any simpler method of electronically doing what Weaver suggests than to use an Arduino and its motor shield. The Arduino is a lovely micro for beginners. One may find in practice that just reeling in and reeling out fishing line without maintaining tension could lead to some horrible overwinds and birds nests which just waving a rod back and forwards might prevent. But think of all the fun Weaver will miss out on by not playing with an Arduino.
Yep. And by using an Arduino, there's no shortage of people that can help with coding.
I'm new to Arduino myself, (mine hasn't even arrived yet), but I'm very familiar with C/C++, so writing the code wouldn't be too difficult. (And more efficient in C.) All my practice so far has only been tested on a simulator.
I couldn't really test it without a motor shield, though, which would be a bit of a problem. But plenty of others have motor shields.

And if the fishing is from a boat, under power, there's not so much likelihood of tangling the line as there would be with a stationary reel, due to drag.

..
 

Weaver

Sep 12, 2015
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So i took some time and read up on all of the suggestions and learned lots but while reading up on the 555 timer started thinking, since this is the first one if it was just reel out and reverse back in would two timer circuits not work or a cycle timer ? and get away from any coding and that way be more variable if you were in different sea conditions ( deep/shallow water)
Thanks again for the input
 

Old Steve

Jul 23, 2015
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So i took some time and read up on all of the suggestions and learned lots but while reading up on the 555 timer started thinking, since this is the first one if it was just reel out and reverse back in would two timer circuits not work or a cycle timer ? and get away from any coding and that way be more variable if you were in different sea conditions ( deep/shallow water)
Thanks again for the input
Do you mean all the way out, then all the way back in each time, instead of the three-stage operation you originally desribed?

Would your commercial fisherman friend want that?

And what would happen in the case of a temporary power out - a bad battery connection, or an overload blowing a fuse that needs changing?

A 555 wouldn't be more variable, either. It would be less so than a programmed version. And any alterations would need component changes, dismantling the unit and soldering etc., instead of just whipping out the chip and loading a modified program into it.

The only advantage of a 555 timer version would be cost.
 
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