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Enclosure Assembly Complete!

A project log for Windicator

The weather tracking time-lapse camera and weather station.

john-leemanJohn Leeman 04/29/2017 at 22:310 Comments

We have an enclosure! This weekend I was able to get the 8”x8” electrical enclosure drilled for the stepper motor and dome covering the motor. Here’s a quick synopsis of what I encountered.

Mounting the motor took slightly longer than expected simply because I didn’t have any M3 standoffs on hand. I measured the length of standoff needed to keep enough of the motor shaft above the lid to affix the turntable on and it was just over 0.5”. Since a 0.5” standoff can be obtained, that should be used for the final kitting. I turned some custom standoffs since I didn’t have any in the shop though. Using some 0.25” 6061 Aluminum rod, I drilled it out to a free fit for the M3 screw and turned to length. It was a good exercise in getting my little shop lathe broken in and prevented me from waiting on the parts for a prototype. I used some long M3 screws and cut them down to fit. Again - all simplified in the final BOM.

Drilling the holes for the dome was relatively straightforward. Using a set of calipers, I adjusted the position of the dome iteratively until I had an equal reading to all four sides of the lid. One thing I had to make sure of was that the mounting holes would not interfere with the seal of the lid. As long as the holes are not right at the edge of the lid, everything clears, so I simply had to make sure that the dome was well oriented when aligning and marking. I marked the holes and drilled to snugly fit a #6 screw.

The turntable for mounting the camera is a ceiling electrical box cover plate - it was the perfect size and less than $3. I found the center with a pair of calipers and laid the motor mounting hub from SparkFun over the center. Again, I marked the holes and clear drilled for the 4-40 screws that the hub is pre-threaded for. I’m unsure why on a motor with M3 mounts, SparkFun chose to use a #4 screw for the hub, but it works. I then mounted the hub to the motor and the plate to the hub (in that order, so that the set screw was accessible.) The turntable was just scraping the top of the lid, so I added a few washers to space it out further, confirming that 0.5” length standoffs are the way to go.

Finally, I mounted the camera to the turntable using double stick tape. I looked at how to drill and mount the camera, but ultimately found it to be unnecessary. The tape should also help with an vibration during rotation. I drilled a set of six small holes in the lid near the edge of the turntable and filed them out to be a square that allowed the camera’s USB cable to pass through.

That’s it for this update, stay tuned as we get the motor turning and start capturing pictures.

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