Hall sensor mount

[stevehuckss396]

I made my disk that holds the magnets out of steel and the engine runs just fine. Others have made the same part from aluminum with no noticeable difference in performance.

 

[Peter Twissell]

I'm sure there will be plenty who have perfectly satisfactory setups with large lumps of steel around the hall sensor.
My point is that it can have detrimental effects and should be avoided if possible. In automotive applications, we often have no choice and cannot avoid steel flywheels etc. In those cases, extensive testing is carried out and often the controller software had to take account of the effects.

 

[Richard Hed]

I don't have a specific engine at this point. This is what I found on Thingaverse which I used on a previous engine. It worked but it was really too big and I ended up cutting the mount lugs off and tapping into the body. I had not really thought about epoxying the sensor to a brass or aluminum plate. That would actually work well since the actual mount changes with each application. One of these days I am going to have to get serious about learning 3D cad. I have used 2D cad for years and they say that makes it harder to learn 3D. I have played around with Fusion 360 and Freecad but by the time I need them I have forgotten too much and end up spending hours trying to relearn stuff.


View attachment 117593

I have used 2D CAD for many years--believe me, 3D CAD is actually much easier if you get the right CAD. My son uses Fusion but I tried it and it was more difficult for me to use than to continue with AutoCAD Architectural for mechanical parts. Yes, it works just fine for mechanical too. However, I have used many 3D CADs and they are usually much easier to use than 2D--Really!

 

[Gordon]

I have used 2D CAD for many years--believe me, 3D CAD is actually much easier if you get the right CAD. My son uses Fusion but I tried it and it was more difficult for me to use than to continue with AutoCAD Architectural for mechanical parts. Yes, it works just fine for mechanical too. However, I have used many 3D CADs and they are usually much easier to use than 2D--Really!

I suspect that had I been using Autocad I would be better able to transition to 3D. I have been using Visual CADD for 30+ years which uses 2 letter commands instead of menu items. It is primarily a drafting program. It enters values in x/y coordinates. For example I can snap to a given point and enter a command like C2 which is a circle defined by radius. It will ask for center point which can be entered as x,y (example 3,2 where it is 3" in x direction and 2" y direction) then it asks for the radius and it produces a circle. You can use the menu but once you learn the commands it is much faster than finding items a couple of items down in the menu. At 80 years old I do not want to spend a lot of time trying to learn an new program for occasional hobby use.

 

[Richard Hed]

I suspect that had I been using Autocad I would be better able to transition to 3D. I have been using Visual CADD for 30+ years which uses 2 letter commands instead of menu items. It is primarily a drafting program. It enters values in x/y coordinates. For example I can snap to a given point and enter a command like C2 which is a circle defined by radius. It will ask for center point which can be entered as x,y (example 3,2 where it is 3" in x direction and 2" y direction) then it asks for the radius and it produces a circle. You can use the menu but once you learn the commands it is much faster than finding items a couple of items down in the menu. At 80 years old I do not want to spend a lot of time trying to learn an new program for occasional hobby use.

You don't look 80. If you can get a copy of Inventor, an old copy, it is exceedingly easy to learn. Follow the tutorial, learn it in two days or less.

 

[Gordon]

You don't look 80. If you can get a copy of Inventor, an old copy, it is exceedingly easy to learn. Follow the tutorial, learn it in two days or less.

The reason that I don't look 80 is because I will not be 80 for three more weeks.

Inventor software situation is interesting. I looked on Amazon and it is super expensive and they only seem to have 2020 version. Prior year versions are no longer available but the description says that it is downloadable in 11 hours on broadband and 433 days on dialup. Imagine having a dedicated phone line tied up for over a year and then having a power outage on day 432 and starting over. I looked on eBay and there are student copies available for $15 to $25. They state that the sellers are students who are eligible to purchase the student edition but they have not used them so they sell their copy on eBay.

 

[mrehmus]

Try the home version of Alibre's Atom3D. I made the transition from AutoCAD which I had used since version 0.9. Alibre 3D is about 10 X faster than AutoCAD and you can check your design as you go. This is a distributor design I've made for an article in the upcoming issue of the magazine. Note that the parts can all be printed or machined with manual tools .

.

 

[Richard Hed]

The reason that I don't look 80 is because I will not be 80 for three more weeks.

Inventor software situation is interesting. I looked on Amazon and it is super expensive and they only seem to have 2020 version. Prior year versions are no longer available but the description says that it is downloadable in 11 hours on broadband and 433 days on dialup. Imagine having a dedicated phone line tied up for over a year and then having a power outage on day 432 and starting over. I looked on eBay and there are student copies available for $15 to $25. They state that the sellers are students who are eligible to purchase the student edition but they have not used them so they sell their copy on eBay.

I use a very old Inventor, I thimk it is version 6. It is really great, not perfect but does great stuff. I thimk I will try to find the Alibre that Mrehmus mentions above.

Mrehmus: Is that Alibre free software? One of the probs with older software is that microsux slowly evolves as it bloats and the older stuff doesn't operate right anymore.

 

[mrehmus]

No, the software is around $150 and sometimes for sale for $100. It is not perfect software but I've been making models and drawings with it for 15 years since I started the magazine.

 

[Richard Hed]

The reason that I don't look 80 is because I will not be 80 for three more weeks.

Inventor software situation is interesting. I looked on Amazon and it is super expensive and they only seem to have 2020 version. Prior year versions are no longer available but the description says that it is downloadable in 11 hours on broadband and 433 days on dialup. Imagine having a dedicated phone line tied up for over a year and then having a power outage on day 432 and starting over. I looked on eBay and there are student copies available for $15 to $25. They state that the sellers are students who are eligible to purchase the student edition but they have not used them so they sell their copy on eBay.

I'm dislexic, did you say 08? I'm 17. I lookt up Alibre's 3D. It lisenses for 200$US which is really a good deal, it is perpetual, you can -put it 9on more than one computer but the liscence code is only good for one computer at a time. Mrehmus says sometimes it goes on sale. I wonders if they give senior discounts.

 

[Richard Hed]

No, the software is around $150 and sometimes for sale for $100. It is not perfect software but I've been making models and drawings with it for 15 years since I started the magazine.

R u able to get updates or are you still using the orignial from 15 years ago? Maybe a newer version would be more powerful.

 

[mrehmus]

If you really want to step up to the 3D plate and are a student or veteran (US & Canada, maybe others) you can get a 1-year license for the full Solidworks for $20. You have to buy another $20 license after that year.
I'm either too old or too lazy to learn another program since Alibre does everything I want (even though the support fee is $465 a year for the top-end version) which I have.

 

[Richard Hed]

If you really want to step up to the 3D plate and are a student or veteran (US & Canada, maybe others) you can get a 1-year license for the full Solidworks for $20. You have to buy another $20 license after that year.
I'm either too old or too lazy to learn another program since Alibre does everything I want (even though the support fee is $465 a year for the top-end version) which I have.

I've used Solidworks professionally, it is really easy and powerful. Maybe I will go to school in Astronomy (want to make a couple mirrors for telescopes) and get the Solidworks for 20$. Thanx for the heads up.

 

[mrehmus]

BTW, for low-speed engines, we tend to use a reed switch. Almost impossible to break, they don't need much of a magnetic field and they don't need power like the Hall Effect Sensor so there are only 2 wires to hook up. For farm-style engines, we just solder a wire to one end of the switch and solder the other end to the tip of a 1/16" brass tube. The second wire is actually the tube and it is connected at the other end to the ground on the electronics.
You can get 50 of them for about $5.

 

[BaronJ]

Hi Guys,

In a former life I designed and used to use reed switches to make blown bulb detectors for motor car lights.

 

[Peter Twissell]

Reed switches are a useful alternative when high frequency switching is not important. I've recently designed a system using reed switches for control of active aero devices in a supercar. Some consider them to be primative, but they are reliable and provide options not available with electronic sensors.