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Need a special motor for a magic trick

JBiesecker

Aug 27, 2013
2
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Aug 27, 2013
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Does anyone know of a motor, actuator or other electronic device that produces quick linear movement without making noise. I originally tried car door lock actuators like these http://www.amazon.com/Install-Essentials-524N-Power-Motor/dp/B0009SWLE6/ref=pd_cp_e_1. They would be perfect except that they make a lot of noise. I eventually switched to these http://store.migamotors.com/migaone-15-linear-shape-memory-alloy-actuator. They're completely silent, but not very powerful, and only produce a very small movement. Does anyone know of any devices that can produce movement like the car door actuator, but silently?
 

Fish4Fun

So long, and Thanks for all the Fish!
Aug 27, 2013
481
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Messages
481
Hydraulics.& pneumatics can be silent; your link is for a "credit card" sized device, so I assume you need very little actual power. A simple solution might be a pair of syringes coupled by a piece of tubing: press one in, the other moves out. For a mechanical advantage use different diameter syringes. If you filled them and the connecting tube with mineral oil you could get very precise/repeatable results.

Alternately, if you only need a small amount of movement, you might consider a solenoid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenoid .

As far as a "silent" electric motor goes, that's tricky, and a lot depends on how "silent" you need it to be. The first step would be to accurately measure how loud an existing motor is and then acoustically decouple it using as much foam and other sound absorbing materials as space will permit and then measure the new sound level. With this information and some math you can calculate the maximum allowable motor noise level and begin your search for a motor that is quiet enough to suit your needs, but success is likely to be highly dependent on your budget and tenacity.

There are some very quiet BLDC motors; however, a lot depends on how much power you require, and how much you are willing to spend converting the rotational energy into linear motion.

If the device only needs to actuate 1 or 2 times per show, you might consider simply using a "spring" powered motor. These can be fashioned from spring wire (I generally use "single strand fishing leader wire" for spring making, it is cheap and readily available), or salvaged from children's toys or old fashioned "egg timers", etc. You may even be able to use "off the shelf springs" in compression mode to move your object from point "A" to point "B" and then return it using a second, stronger spring. This arrangement would need to be "ReSet" after each use, but if you only need to move it once or twice, it might be a viable answer.

Fish
 

JBiesecker

Aug 27, 2013
2
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Messages
2
Thanks, an electric Solenoid might be the answer. But can these be silent?

Basically what I need is a way to move or release certain gimmicks through a 12 volt current. Having them move by springs or rubber bands would work, I just need a way for a 12 volt current to release them.
 
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