How can i make an automatic egg turner???

[dc09]

hi, i have got the motor that is similar to toxos and have done the following to my incubator.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Now you must decide on where you can mount the turning motor and a way to get it attached to your egg trays.If your planning on putting in a hatching tray,whatever area that is going in,will decide where the turning motor must go. Once you have the egg trays all connected together,make sure they travel 45 degrees in either direction of level,with no tough spots.
The placement of your connecting rod to the egg trays is crucial,in determining the amount of travel up and down this rod must make,to get the needed travel of the egg trays. The closer you hook this rod,or flat stock bar to the center pivot point of the egg tray,will require less travel overall. This may take awhile to figure out,,but be sure to leave extra rod or flat stock,below or above the egg tray to attach another rod to from your motor. You will need to look close at where you have more room for attaching the egg tray connecting rod to. I put my flat stock connecting rod on the inside of the egg trays,thus I had to cut the wire away enough for the flat bar to travel it's distance.When you attach the rod,or bar to the egg trays,it must not be tight,it has to be loose enough to allow movement.

 

[toxo]

Don't know how many trays you intend to use. With the small Crouzet motor, I would start with one to begin with just in case it can't handle any more (depends on how you gear it down). In any case I would place the connecting rod at the end of the tray/s and make sure it extends through the top of the bator so you can turn manually (by pushing up/down) in case of failure of the motor at a critical stage. Once you have the tray/s connected, you can put the motor arm/connection on any of the trays and they will all travel together. Frenchblackcopper is right when he says you can make the travel smaller by attaching the arm nearer the pivoting point of the tray but this will require more strength (torque) from the motor.
You don't state the RPM of the motor you bought. If it was the 40 RPM one, I don't know how you are going to gear it down enough.

 

[dc09]

yes, it was the 40RPM motor that i bought, i will try and find a way to reduce the RPM even if it means using lots of pulleys.

 

[dc09]

could someone please suggest a good thermostat to use as the i currently have is an immersion heater thermostat and there is a big time difference between turning on and off.

 

[toxo]

Quote:
You didn't read all of my BYC page did you? The thermostat from Maplins is excellent. OK, you have to solder it together and make 4 simple changes but you seem more than capable. I'll show you the changes and I don't think the whole thing came to more than £5.50. If you want my number you can have it. I know you're on a mobile but you're only the other side of London from me.

(edit)

For all you Americans, phone charges are horrendous over here in the UK.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

dc09,
Gearing down your 40 rpm motor may take some doing.In my setup,I put the smallest pulley I could find on the motor,then bought the biggest diameter one I could find to be the "driven" pulley.You can then add another small pulley right beside your large "driven" pulley,on the same shaft,connect this small pulley to a large diameter pulley on a shaft all by itself.Once you determine the total amount of travel the egg tray must be pushed up,and pulled down in inches(to make the egg trays travel at least 45 degrees each way) divide this amount of inches by 2,,this number will tell you where from center to locate the attaching point for your egg pushrod to go.
My total travel on mine was 4" so my connecting rod bolt had to be 2" out from the center of the final driven pulleys center.As long as your motor is mounted good and tight,make sure the flat stock you use to connect from your final driven gear to your egg tray connecting flat stock has room to move and not bind up. Make the holes slightly larger than the bolt you will be using.I also used acorn type nuts,they have nylon inserts that keep them from getting loose,and also they will only tighten down so far and bottom out.

 

[dc09]

@toxo, i will try to get the thermostat tommorow as i live close to a maplins, please could you run through what changes i would need to make and what else i will nedd to buy.

 

[toxo]

I've put what you need on my BYC page so that others will see it also.
If it's not easy to understand then let me know and I'll have another go at it.

Paul

 

[dc09]

hi, do i need to buy any extra parts for the thermostat or are they all provided???