Does anyone have a manual speed control for a stepper motor?
I am repairing an old vibraphone and the old paddle motor needs replacing. It was originally the motor from an old record player and, after cleaning and oiling, one of the weights of the speed control seperated, richocheting off my head stunning me slightly and disappeared into the depths of the shed after bouncing off the ceiling. Record player motors were the standard for many years until electric speed controls were purpose designed.
New motor/speed controls these days are available at around $600.00. So, as I have some hybrid steppers from a scrapped "new" Ruhatec printer I thought I would try them as a cheaper alternative.
I am loking for a speed range of around 40 to 140 r.p.m
Is stepper correct for this application? Do you require continuous spinning at a constant but adjustable speed? Why not any ordinary DC motor, then you can control it with pwm. Trivial circuitry with a 555 ic and a power transistor.
I thought you wnated to power up gym equipment and was all set with ideas re: LiPo and brushless..... 
I built a remote follow focus from a bubble jet printer stepper motor, controlled by a $25 arduino + $15 motor shield + pot to set the speed. You'll need to do some scripting but it's quite easy to get the hang of. Would something like that work for you?
