Non-electronic speed controllers

Does anyone have any experience with non electric speed controllers. As in, a controller that doesn't need a pwm signal to operate? I'm looking for something that's lever operated or something I can add a lever to. I think the best example of this would be a dimer switch but I don't where to start my hunt for this kind of a device. Does anyone know what this is called or have any suggestions? Thanks.

like a potentiometer?

How about a servo that turns a potentiometer?

Well I don't know if a potentiometer is the best thing, because I'd like to attach a throttle cable to it. I could probably rig some kind of spring support with a lever but it probably wouldn't be very stable.

how do you want to control it? what is it? do you want to use your hand on a lever, or a transmitter? if you want a continuous flow of current, with a lever, use the trigger set-up from a drill motor! we tried it out, and it works pretty well. also, then you could instead use a trigger!!

Haha, well as much fun as a trigger sounds, I'd like to use a throttle cable to control it and it will be on a lever. It won't be RC'd though, it'll be stationary.
I want to control the speed of a motor kind of like a weed eater. Just how you can control the speed of weed eater through a cable, by varying the intake of the gas.

SenaiERI

I don't know about varying the intake of gas, but varying the intake of air worked fine when I was still flying RC Planes.

the ICE's on weed wackers, lawn mowers, and the like are usually designed to run only at one speed, not varying. So, it probably won't like it if you try to force it to do your bidding, and run at varying speeds..

If that's the case, Senai may want to look into RC Plane or RC Car motors. They're of similar size and power, and are easily controlled.

Well the ICE's on lawn equipment are the same as engines out of a car. If you decrease the fuel you decrease the speed and the same with increasing. I'm not and expert with any of it, but that's always been my understanding and it's always held true for me.

Also, i don't actually plan on using a weed eater. I'm looking for a used mag motor so if anyone wants to sell me one, i can pay cash.
Only problem is all of the motors i'm finding are WAY too much rpm or a lot of money.
Any suggestions for a 1 or more hp motor with a max of 2000 rpm? hopefully under 100 bucks? maybe?
I know its a long shot but it's my summer project.

SenaiERI

yea, and those are already controlled by servos, so it would be easy to convert that to a lever.

I'm sorry could you explain that?

My little brain only see's one way to control a motor and that's by going through a speed controller. I don't understand what you mean.

Oh are you saying use the servo as a speed controller with no signal coming in but the cable on a lever of some sort?

SenaiERI

oh.. I was talking about gas engines still! lol sorry!

If you're looking for a 1 hp electric motor, an 18 volt DeWalt [1.5 hp] will do the trick. Just get one of those and a gearbox to reduce the RPMs. The "new" version sold at Robot Marketplace is the one I'd go for (since the new one DEFINITELY won't be worse than the old one if they're using it in the same product lines).

What I'd do as far as speed control goes is either get a cheap drill to remove the trigger and use that, or use a standard ESC and a servo tester.

Just for clarification lol weed eaters actually do have adjustable throttles, along with chainsaws and some other stuff while lawn mowers on the other hand have a single speed.
This is all because of the style carburetor used. Car engines have spring loaded throttles while lawn mowers have extremely simple carbs that basically have only adjustable chokes lol.
Going to the air fuel issue, its often easier to adjust the speed of the engine by adjusting the air ratio to fuel rather then the other way around, obviously with this limited by the displacement and compression of the engine along with valve size and timing.

Hey Jeff, thanks for the find. I didn't realize that DeWalt had a new motor available, and it's not a bad price either.

I'm defiantly going want to get the gearbox, but I can't seem to find any specs listed for the motors. DeWalt won't release amps drawn or the rpm for some reason and I'm not sure what kind of ESC to use. I have the banebot 40 amp controllers but I'm pretty sure the motors take more than that. Also will the gear boxes need to be supported on the other side? Yes, i realize that they're used in drills but what about side loads like for drive trains that so many teams use.

Oh and thanks for the ESC tip. I'm going to look into that.

SenaiERI

SenaiERI wrote:

Hey Jeff, thanks for the find. I didn't realize that DeWalt had a new motor available, and it's not a bad price either.

I'm defiantly going want to get the gearbox, but I can't seem to find any specs listed for the motors. DeWalt won't release amps drawn or the rpm for some reason and I'm not sure what kind of ESC to use. I have the banebot 40 amp controllers but I'm pretty sure the motors take more than that. Also will the gear boxes need to be supported on the other side? Yes, i realize that they're used in drills but what about side loads like for drive trains that so many teams use.

Oh and thanks for the ESC tip. I'm going to look into that.

SenaiERI

Check the specs on the older version of the 18v motors. They should run about the same.