Making It Move

With the connections made it’s time to test that the Revolver drive wheel spins before trying to spin the turntable.

Testing the Motor

• Release the e-stop.

  • The Stagehand display will show “DISCONNECTED” and an IP Address

• Press and hold the FWD jog button

  • The Stagehand display will now show “FWD 0%”

• Turn the jog wheel CW to make the motor spin

  • While jogging, turn the jog wheel CCW to low down and stop movement

• Press and hold the REV jog button

  • The Stagehand display will now show “REV 0%”

• Turn the jog wheel CW to make the motor spin in the opposite direction

  • While jogging, turn the jog wheel CCW to low down and stop movement

Now that the motor spins, let’s get the turntable to spin

Moving The Turntable

Once you have confirmed that the motor is operating correctly, you can start moving your turntable with the Revolver.

Drive Wheel Tension

The Revolver motor and drive wheel are mounted to bearings, allowing the machine to accommodate eccentric turntables.

To get started, identify the section of the turntable that is furthest away from the Revolver. Push the motor toward the turntable edge until it makes contact. Now tighten up the Friction Drive Tension Nuts to apply some force to keep the Friction Drive Wheel pressed into the turntable.

The Revolver doesn’t require huge amounts of spring tension to operate, however there needs to be enough tension in the springs to absorb any out of round-ness in the turntable. A good place to begin is by compressing the springs by 1”, which should be achievable without a wrench.

Do not worry if you need to apply more spring tension. As of this writing we have yet to find an instance of too much tension. Just keep in mind that the tension springs should have a little bit of room left in them to accommodate any bumps on the drive edge.

Encoder Wheel Tension

Once the drive wheel has tension it is time to do the same with the encoder. Much like with the drive wheel, set the spring tension when the drive edge is the furthest away from the Revolver

You’ve got enough spring tension if

• The encoder wheel doesn’t free spin

• You can pull the encoder away from the edge with some force

To adjust the encoder spring tension, loosen the 2 cap screws securing the encoder to the mounting shaft. Adjust the encoder wheel height to be roughly centered on the drive edge. While maintaining the height, add tension to the leaf spring by using the hex bolt at the end of the shaft assembly. When sufficient tension has been achieved, lock down the 2 cap screws.

You’ll need more spring tension if

• The encoder wheel can free spin

• You can very easily pull it away from the drive edge

The encoder doesn’t need as much tension as the drive wheel. It only needs enough to keep the wheel engaged against the edge - not to drive the turntable. So how much tension should there be?

Testing Motion

Now is a great time to try spinning the turntable manually from the face of the Stagehand.

Press and hold the FWD jog button, then slowly turn the jog knob CW. Your turntable should begin spinning Clockwise. You should also see the encoder counts on the Stagehand display increasing. If your Turntable is spinning Counterclockwise or if the encoder counts are decreasing while you are jogging Forward you will need to swap the motor phasing or encoder phasing. It is very important that when moving forward, the encoder counts are increasing - cues will not run if these are out of phase.

If the turntable is not jogging smoothly add a few turns to the drive wheel tensioning nuts and try again - it’s likely drive wheel slippage.

Now that the turntable is moving correctly, let’s work on positioning.