I mocked-up a rig that uses a small computer controlled motor to turn the cube for the purposes of getting more consistent results:
My cardboard setup has some problems with the alignment of axes of rotation, which is why, when the motor turns the cube, you can see everything flex.
I’m also having issues with getting consistent contact between the cardboard holder and the load cell since the load cell only prevents the cube from rotating in one direction, but the motor turns the cube both ways. That’s why you can see a screw preventing the cube holder from turning the other way in the video.
It’s time to get more serious about the construction of this whole setup. I’m going to start designing a more precise and stable apparatus.
A quick note about the motor I’m using: I bought this IQ control motor on crowd supply last year and it just arrived recently. I had left it in its box until I started building this cube testing setup, but I got it working very quickly and it seems to be doing the job very nicely. I suspect that this will be a better motor to use than a stepper motor that might introduce vibrations or other weirdness.
Motor controller: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11061
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