DIY potter's wheel build from a broken hoverboard.
One of the wheel motors from the hoverboard/balance board is user as motor in the potter's wheel. The motor is controlled from a ESP32 via a brushless motor speed controller.
The hardware consists of
- Hoverboard, $0-? (I got mine for $30)
- Brushless Motor Speed Controller BLDC Driver Board with Hall (15A 500W DC12V-36V), $12
- ESP32 Development Board, $9
- Power supply (DC36V 10A 360W AC85-265V), $23
- Potentiometer for pedal (I used a 50k PTV09A-4025F-B503), $1
- Large bucket
- MDF + Scrap wood
Total cost: $60 (assuming you have the last two items on the list)
Use the existing controlboard from the hoverboard to control the motor. There is a project that has done this for a different PCB than the one in my hoverboard, maybe it could easily be adapted.
First the motor is extracted from the hoverboard
Low cost brushless motor driver with direction and speed control 12~36V, 500W (with heat sink) (http://grauonline.de/wordpress/?page_id=3122)
Pin description
- 5v 5v output
- EL Motor enable input (5v)
- Signal speedometer output
- Z/F forward/reverse control (5v/GND)
- VR speed control (0..5v)
- GND ground
Software for the ESP32 is created with PlatformIO and allow speed control via a foot pedal. The ESP also serves up a captive portal that's used for remote monitoring and control.
Pin selection was made using this information.
