Hi,
I am a modeler, but also a computer enthusiest. I have a few questions for the people in the know, about servos. I want to take a computer case door, and two high power servos, and use it to open the door. The thing is, I obviously don't plan on having a reciever in my case, and a battery, that would be a hassle, and not worth it. What I want to know, is what voltages do servo's run on, and what controls how much they are open or closed? What I was hoping for was being able to have a on/off switch to control the open and closed settings, but perhaps its more complicated than that?

Thanks a LOT for help and or advice, in advance,

Yan

Most RC servos operate at 3.6-6 volts. The problem would be in the signal or communicating with the servo. A servo is a dumb mechanical device, but it needs a signal to tell it when, how far and for how long to rotate. That is what the Rx does. for your application, there are probably better mech. actuators available that will run on the voltage from an extra HDD power cable. You could probably get it to work, but if you were to place a servo at the top of a hinged metal case door, the force needed to open it would require some pretty expensive servos, at least 4 of them, (unless you spring-loaded the door).

Maybe there are some others who have tried something like this.

Good luck!!

Thanks.

Thats what I was thinking after looking into it all more. But my problem, I can't find actuators!!! Any ideas?

Thanks!

the servo is powered on 4.8-6 volts. the servo position is not voltage dependent. it uses a 1-2 ms pulse, the position of the servo is dependent on the pulse width of 1 ms to 2 ms 1.5 ms being center. img is over simplified but basically is a digital square wave signal that the servo reads. the best thing i could think of to do what you want is get a direct servo controler or servo teser and try running the servos that way. you can boner by taping of a 5v out on the PC's power supply. personally it would make more sense to do what you want with a pair of solenoid actuators and a micro switch
[link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXVK79&P=7]servo tester[/link]

this would do what you want
[link=http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ItemBrowse/c-10101/s-10101/p-100000166043/mediaCode-ZX/appId-100000166043/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:100000166043]door kit[/link]

An old program called Dragon Dictate, used to have an add on feature and a set up just for this operation. I was made for quadraplegiacs so they could open doors with a voice comand. If you research this program, and set up, you might find a wiring guide or even the setup for it. It hope this helps.

I happen to have this, came with some AOL software years and years ago. At least it was a dictaion program with a dragon on it. I came across it a month or two ago.

anyhow, it would not be operated by voice, by switch (just works better, especially if I can get 120 volt actuators.

but thats JUST the problem, I can't find actuators, or anything like that!!

I don't think servo's would work. I also thought about just using a geared down motor to power the side panel, that would be on a hinge, but that wouldnt work

does anyone know where to look for SMALL actuators?

thanks again,

Yan

There are several ways that you could go. One would be to check with a custom car parts retailer for 12 volt actuators which are used for opening doors and trunks, this could be operated with a 12 volt power converter such as a charger. The other and more costly way would be to contact your local Hydraulics repair shop and purchase either Bosch or Atos 110/115 volt solenoids which could be actuated by servo operated micro switches, many of these are available with internal processors that control lateral movement, ie, distance/speed/force. A light spring installed on the door hinge would help if it didn't place too much force against the pin which operated the locking mechanism, the bad part about all of these is that the lateral movement is probably less than 1 inch. If you design something which uses something like the cylinders used in the lift hatches on Mini Vans it would give you more movement but it also adds another factor to the equation.

after a few hours of hard research, I seem to have struck gold... http://www.firgelliautomations.com/default.php

ill keep on looking