Photobox for GIF's - motorized turntable

If you have ever seen a model on MakerWorld using a video for the thumbnail image and wondered how to do that for yourself, then you're in the right place. This is the GIF photobox with a motorized turn table using all maker's supply parts. This model allows you to take professional photos and videos of your creations as well as turn your videos of the rotating model into a GIF image to use as your thumbnail for uploads. The turn table has magnets, found in the Maker's Beginner kit, in it for you to attach a perfectly centered pedestal (STEP file provided for modification) in case you model needs to be lifted off the turntable itself as well as being a making it easy to change out different style pedestals. There are also custom supports added for better build plate adhesion and can be cut off after printing is finished. Assembly of this model is very simple and the electronics are all from Maker's Supply and require no soldering or knowledge of electronics. I have included a guide on how to turn your videos into the .gif file format so you can upload them properly.

Upadate

Added a light mount and added light to BOM, the power board can support up to 2 lights total in this circuit

Assembly Instructions

Thie wiring is super simple on this project thanks to Maker's Supply. When looking at the power board, the side with white inputs is the power circuit, and the side with black is the control circuit. The control circuit is able to control or regulate how power moves through the power circuit. Our battery is plugged into the power input, and our motor is our output. There is a potentiometer in the control circuit right under the motor to control how much power it gets, and therefor how fast it turns. You will notice a jumper wire under the power input, this is because the battery case itself has an on off switch, if it did not you could put a button for on off control here. Additionally there is a light, again with a jumper cable to keep it one while the turn table is on but this can be replaced with a button if wanted.

Step 1:

First thing we need to do is to place the wall on the base by matching up the standouts with the cutouts on the wall.

Step 2:

First we need to feed the motor wire through the base of the model like show in the image below and set the motor into the model.

Step 3:

The next step is to wire everything together like in this picture.

Step 4:

Next you need to mount all the electronics to the back using 4 self tapping 2x4 screws

Step 5:

Now insert a single 4x2 magnet into each of the holes in both the turn table and magnetic pedestal. Pay attention to the orientation of the magnets when installing them to make sure they will attract to each other.

Step 6:

The final step is to set the bearing into the base plate above the motor and to place the turn table into this making sure to align the slit in the motor shaft with the matching slit on the turn table.

GIF Tutorial

After you have the video you'd like to turn into a GIF for use in your model thumbnail simply go to https://www.adobe.com/express/feature/video/convert/video-to-gif

or google search “video to .gif” and click the link for Adobe. This website is free to use as much as you want after you log in to your free account.

Once you are here click on upload your video and you will be brought to another page that looks like this where you can drag and drop your video.

Once your video is uploaded your screen will look like this. You have a timeline below the video preview where you can move the sliders on the sides to trip the start and end of the video as well as a thin line with a triangle above it that shows your current time in the video, this can also be used to move through the video slowly. On the right hand side you will see a quality selection, I would recommend medium or low quality for use in the thumbnails. Once you are happy with the preview, click download and you will now have your GIF which can be uploaded as a thumbnail photo.