Motors Turning computer chair around with a motor?

I’m trying to find a solution, I’d like to have a small motor turning my computer chair around (just the top bit) which stops once it’s gone around in a full circuit. Anyone have any ideas on how i can achieve this?

 

cog on the seat base or strut shaft, motor with cog mounted on the other, wire it up with some electrical wizardry?

 

You could probably do this with a motor, a gearbox, power transfer (toothed wheel, belt, etc) a few limit switches, some relays and a power supply.

 

Is it going to spin while somebody is sitting on it?
How fast it needs to spin?
How accurate a "full circle" must be?
Longevity of the whole contraption?

You'll need a gearbox to get sufficient torque out of motor - cheap cordless drill can be a good donor.
Next will be coupling with chair - easiest will be some sort of friction wheel, it also act as a failsafe if the chair is otherwise stuck (i.e. someone is sitting on it).
For detection you can use rotary encoder. Or you could get away just timing it if noone is going to interfere with a chair while its spinning.
And to finish it off- some sort of mcu for controlling the whole thing.

 

Thanks for the input everyone apparently the idea is allot more complicated then first thought, for this to work it would need to be able to spin with someone in the chair from either a touch of a button or more importantly a certain sound. im thinking the best way is to build the motor into some sort of case around the bottom of the chair so we don't need to anker the motor down to the floor.

I'd like it to spin as quick as possible without throwing the person off being me weighing 82kg a full circle would be for example me typing at the keyboard it doing a spin and then being able to type correctly in position once again. ill need the contraption to last for about 200,000 to 500,000 spins however I don't mind replacing parts when they break, quit.

Thanks for the information guys I'll start researching now I know what's required.

 

Can i ask why you want to do this? Sounds quite bizarre.

 

It is very strange.

You'd also need a clutch mechanism incase you want to spin the chair manually.

 

^ Exactly what I was thinking

 

You're going to need a reasonably high torque, slow speed motor, some relays and some micro switches, I don't expect the motor to be cheap

 

I should have thought that a motor that would do the trick would be really expensive - most wouldn't have the torque to rotate ~100kg (if you factor in the weight of the chair and some leeway) slowly without just burning out.

 

I'd get an electric wheelchair motor / gearbox assembly and start from there.

 

Assuming a mechanical approach as opposed to stepper motors and programmable motion, a chain and sprocket arrangement might be an alternative for a basic method of rotation.

However since you're looking to have stops at fixed positions and make that repeatable, the simplest method would be a notched wheel with a corresponding spring loaded peg for the notch. The number of notches will depend on the number of stops you want as well as their position.

It all sounds like a big custom engineering job, I'd recommend testing the design on a smaller scale to get the concept and design locked down then try scaling up. Remember, if you want to spin something heavy at a fast speed you will need a lot of power and you should take into account that its all very well getting it going but you will need to stop as well.

One more thing, violent/fast starting and stopping of a spinning of a chair you are sitting on will generate a whiplash effect on your neck when you consider the distance from your point of contact (bum on seat) to your head. The force generated will be dictated by the speed your are spinning at, try Googling angular momentum and centripetal force to find out what you are dealing with.

Alternatively you could just say "f*@k it" and go for it, who knows we might see your results on YouTube Fail Army.

 

I’ve got it guys! We use a garage door opener! Obviously cut the long beam off and shorten the chain but the speed shouldn't be that fast, they come with a remote too! Simple cog welded to the chair connected to the chair.

Now we just have to see how adjustable these things are and build a frame to go around the bottom of the chair!

Moving on then we just need to build a little frame and a button presser which receives a signal from a script on the computer from people on the internet which activates the spin!

 

Yup exactly that. Seat control needs to be a joystick as well!

Only hurdle I can see is most seats the non revolving part is part of the gas lift mechanism. Also itll need a hefty battery to run the motor.

 

I second this request? Why are you doing this?

 

I'm hoping I'll be able to plug it in though a normal plug, non revolving gas lift mechanism... there's a problem perhaps we could weld some sort of tube to the upper part of the chair to cover the gas lift mechanism giving us more options!

 

All that money to look like Davroz

 

Keep in mind that a garage door has a start point and an end point. Your end point is also your start point, so it won't be a straight mechanical conversion. You will need a different means of control. It's not rocket science but just something to keep in mind.

If the internet part is critical to whatever it is you are doing. I suggest tackling that bit first before spending money on motors and what not.

 

Your right and the way a garage door operates is you need to click once to open the garage door then click again to close it! This is even better because it stops me from getting dizzy from spinning too much in the same direction! (which might totally destroy this whole project) but we’ll see!

Sent off some emails to garage door opener providers about adjustment.

We gonna do this!