Micro Power Cube

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Communications

I remember mentioning "brushless outrunners". A cheap source is Hobbyking (They also have US warehouses but it's not immediately obvious how to order from them):

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__517__59__Electric_Motors-Outrunners_by_size.html

These motors have no mechanical commutator and need a driver:

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__61__182__Speed_Controllers-All_Speed_Controllers.html

These RC drivers are controlled like any RC servo which means you can use the Arduino servo example to get started.

Tom Griffing

Marcin Feedback

Tom,

It appears that the industry standard is dunking the hydraulic pump right in the reservoir. How Clever!

You are right about requirements. Here they are:

1. Audience: the hacker in a hackerspace who wants to add hydraulic power to their skillset, or the custom fabricator or any producer looking for a small hydraulic power solution.
2. 1 cubic foot size
3. External electric source
4. Entire assembly is one cubic foot or less
5. Weight is under 25 lbs
6. May be used for powering LifeTrac and in shearing 1"x8" slabs of mild steel with an Ironworker machine.

For the elite hacker crowd, I think making this thing as small as possible would make it not only more manageable but also less intimidating.

I imagine the first option above ($109) with the tiny 3 kW electric motor, with 4x geardown, so that it's matched to driving the motor, but at slightly reduced output. The main challenge will be to not burn out the electric motor.