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Showing posts with label stepper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stepper. Show all posts

Monday, August 17, 2020

DIY Two-Needle Dial with Arduino

Just learned about a great device called a "Biaxial Stepper Motor." It's a pair of stepper motors driving two separate shafts that are nested concentrically inside of each other. This allows you to mount two indicator needles, one on each shaft, and operate them independently.

It functions something like the shafts that move the hands of a clock, but with one very important difference. 

two hand dial gauge for arduino with dual independent needle working with biaxial stepper for sim games
You can easily make a dial or gauge for your flight sim or other game. These biaxial stepper motors move each needle arm independently. Each hand can rotate at different speeds or directions. Easy to control with any Arduino or Raspberry Pi.


In a clock, all the shafts are linked by gears and they rotate with a set ratio (for example: the hour hand moves 1/12th of a rotation for every full rotation of the minute hand). Wikipedia calls the gearing mechanism a "wheel train" (note the illustration) with the "hand shafts" being the part attached to and  moving the hands.

By contrast, the two shafts of a biaxial stepper operate completely independently, so you can