Overview:

An automated fraction collector system was developed for use in a soil hydraulic behavior study at UCD. Three racks of 30 test tubes (50 mL volume) are driven by stepper motors through an 18:1 belt reduction. Independent timing and motor control are implemented with the BS-2 Basic Stamp, 3 RTC modules, and a dedicated serial stepper motor driver board. Several buttons and an LCD screen are used to program interval timings, and monitor the progress of each rack. Motor housing and test tube racks were designed by Dylan Beaudette and fabricated by the UCD College of Ag. machine shop. Code for the Basic Stamp was written by Dylan Beaudette with considerable help from the Parallax User Forums (thread 1 and thread 2).

Fraction Collector 1: Control box, motor box, and test tube rack.

Fraction Collector 2: Motor box and drive assembly.

Fraction Collector 3: Control box- basic stamp, lcd screen, and motor controller.

 
Design Details:

Fraction Collector 4: Detail on soil column - collector interface.

 
Applications:

 
Links:

• Parallax Basic Stamp
• Stepper motor controller information
• more images