Stepper Motor Advice

[Daftlander]

So I'm building a motion control rig for my camera. With the end goal of doing some stop motion with it. 

Its going alright so far but I've hit a major snag.  The tilt part of my pan/tilt head doesn't work. When fully loaded with camera and follow focus mechanism the motor isn't powerful enough. 

The motor is 0.59Nm(84oz.in) holding torque, but it needs to be able to turn and hold about 1.5 kilos. Is there any gearbox or pulley system that might work? Or is it just time to save up and buy a bigger motor?

[samcool55]

How smooth is the mechanic stuff itself? Adding a bit of oil/grease so it can move easier might do the trick as well.

[Daftlander]

2 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

How smooth is the mechanic stuff itself? Adding a bit of oil/grease so it can move easier might do the trick as well.

Having a look at it I may need a thicker bolt on the opposite end to the motor, just to hold things straight. 

[Alexzz_]

i would personally use a few gears, if you have any lego technic laying around its a cheap and easy way to test a small gearbox.

[MikeSK]

What about if you lower the center of gravity of the device to include the camera?  You will have to cut the bolts shorter most likely.  Make sure you are not experiencing any binding.  

[Hackentosher]

can you add more current to the stepper? That should get you more power

 

[MikeSK]

You could use the extra exposed bolts on the bottom to add washers for counter weights for the camera.

[Daftlander]

So as it turns out, the software I have can focus my lens for me. Having lowered the centre of gravity and got rid of the follow focus mechanism, it carries the camera handily. Thanks for all the advice.

[Unimportant]

21 hours ago, Daftlander said:

<snip>

Wondering why you're not using a servo in stead of a simple stepper. The positioning will probably drift over time. Or are you going to be adding servo feedback yourself later ?

[Daftlander]

2 hours ago, Unimportant said:

Wondering why you're not using a servo in stead of a simple stepper. The positioning will probably drift over time. Or are you going to be adding servo feedback yourself later ?

I'm using dragonframe stop motion  software. It really only wants to work with stepper motors, plus the positioning needs to be pretty precise.