It moves, time to start.

OK understand the 30 second gearbox . Re the relay, yes it will close the loop, but I guess it is just on-off/reverse-forward? A decent PID routine will allow varying motor speed dependent on how far from the current tracked point the target is - this stops it overshooting or hunting in a sim due to the fast moving target. Anyway, have a play if you want, as you seem to have access to some cheap/free equipment and good luck with your seatmover project.

Seat, I figured that would be the issue, and reversing a motor at full speed = higher than lock rotor amps. I was hoping someone would say, hell yes , done a bunch like that, works like a champ(wishfull thinking). Even though I do have access to a wide range of equipment, my time is at a premium right now. I've been testing the boards on the actuators with 4-20ma signal forward/reverse/stop, but the pot on the board is still the controlling factor for the motor, so even if I came up with a code for the arduino for 4-20ma output, it wouldn't vary the speed. To me it would be like a relay setup. I still would like to use the 115vac motors so I may have order a 1phase vfd, but that gets pricey, and that puts it on the wife's radar way too early in the project. Does any one know of a arduino code that will output 4-20ma/0-5v signal for our purposes? Which leads me to my next question. Does an arduino code have to be specifically written for simtools to receive commands or will it work with any serial purposed code. The reason I ask is I've seen some codes that I may want to try from the robot community. I know nothing about code, I would love to learn, but do not have the time or brain capacity.

Well after more reading, and testing my wiper motor with it hooked directly to 12v, I decided to go the winch route. I know the wiper motors would be good for the seat alone, but I would rather make my current sim as a whole move, and put the aces2 in it, I have not abandoned the 115v actuators yet but, I need something working to keep me motivated. I am ordering 2000lb winch motors from amazon tonight, and still planning on using my arduino uno with a moto monster, I have also read that the moto monster has had mixed results with winches in terms of power. I'm thinking, if there is an issue with it not having enough power can I twin the moto monster with an identical one, and run it in parallel. Has any one tried this? I know I should go with the jrks, but I think the arduino will suit me better with the future direction of the project.

Wow! That's exactly what I was thinking. Again you guys just saved me a lot of time. Thanks Noorbeast for the link, and to Pit for the tutorial. I would love to tag you guys, but can't figure it out.

Hey did you know there is a FAQ area that tells you how to use the forum? Thanks again @noorbeast, that was just lazy on my part.

Finally commited. Ordered 2 2000lb winches off amazon. Can't wait till they get here to start making the main base and mounts. Planning on making a 2dof platform with cv joint out of front wheel drive car for pivot point, and winches with moto monsters. @Pit's tutorial on "stacking" the monsters sold me on the idea, and finally gave me the push I needed.

If you need any inputs how to transform the wheel and axle of the winches into a lever (i used a shimano bottom bracket):

@Pit nice work, I'm looking at a couple differant options. Are you using a hand crank from a manual winch for a lever? Tying to figure out what would have a square hole. @noorbeast thanks for the heads up, I thought a typical u-joint would be over kill but after reconsidering the possible weight, your right, better to be over than under.

Got it, thanks

No it is a bike crank for children bikes, 15cm long:

@Pit, well that makes sense, and explains the threads, brilliant! Any idea what kind of weight that set up will move lbs or kg. Thanks.

Also, it show how long I've been out of riding bikes, I was thinking shimano in terms of fishing.

The limit is given by your welding skill level, motor driver, your psu and your 10A wall socket if using 750 watts winches

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Finally some progress. received the winches, and ordered 3 motor monsters(decided to roll the dice with cheap ones off ebay $11 each) so here is what I decided to do. Although I can weld I wanted to see if it could be done without welding. Hey, what do you tell someone with single digit IQ...nice weld! (just a little pipefitter joke). After disassembling the winch I realized the spur gear that connects to the spool was 18mm, so using an 18mm socket and a 1/2 inch(12mm) key stock shoved in the drive of the socket extended me out to the arm, and the 3 piece crank arm just happened to be the same size as the key stock(with corners ground on key stock). Now the bearing, I happened to have some 1 3/16 bearings and shaft, so I mounted the bearing, cut and drilled the shaft(using the 1 3/16 shaft as a bushing between key stock and bearing). every thing went together great. I did however decide to weld to key stock to the bearing on one end and 45% silver solder the 18mm socket to the gear and to the key stock to prevent any play when reversing direction(it had very little play before). If someone wanted to use a winch set but can't weld, or no access to equipment it is possible.