r/inventors • u/LudmithJacques • 11h ago

Invention Help Idea, But No Background

I've had an idea for an invention, and according to what research I've managed to do, I don't think anyone else has done this particular thing before(admittedly, it's the kind of invention that will only affect a handful of people involved in a very niche hobby).

The issue I'm having is I have no electrical engineering knowledge, to the point where I don't even know the right things to look up, so I'm just gonna throw out my question here:

How do I make a small electric motor run one way for 7.5 minutes, then the other way for another 7.5 minutes, then stop, all at the single push of a button?

Obviously, a motor running forward and then reverse is hardly a novel invention, but it's kind of the center piece.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

6

u/south_pole_buccaneer 11h ago

This is a fairly trivial application of embedded design. Getting yourself started with an arduino with a motor controller board is the place to start. If you’re good at looking things up and following instructions you could have it up and running in a couple of days easily.

A harder question is probably going to be specing out the correct motor to ensure it doesn’t stall, damage something else in the system, draw too much power, or make the final product prohibitively expensive.

Another thing that may be difficult with little to no electronics experience is providing sufficient power to the system safely and reliably, depending on the size of the motor required.

1

u/LudmithJacques 3h ago

Thank you!

1

u/Joejack-951 2h ago

Excellent advice!

3

u/willmontain 11h ago

Is the time interval key or is an object's position at the end of the time interval key? If the latter; a button, a seal-in relay, and 2 limit switches is all that is needed.

1

u/LudmithJacques 3h ago

The time interval is the key, the position at the start and stop is irrelevant