instructables
Cirkinemeter: Arduino-Based Circular Kinematics Platform
by gearsngenes
Hello! I'm BACK from a LONG hiatus!
In this instructable, I introduce my newest DIY
platform that can perform experiments on circular
kinematics. It utilizes Arduino to measure centripetal
acceleration and angular velocity. Additionally, it
allows students to observe and measure the Coriolis
force on a classroom scale (instead of planes and
hurricanes).
This platform is called the Cirkinemeter (Circular
Kinematics Meter). It was built to extend the
capacities of its predecessor, the Kinemeter, from
linear to circular motion. Like the Kinemeter, the
Cirkinemeter is affordable, portable, and moddable,
thanks to its open source parts.
The premise of this device is to provide students an
affordable, portable, and moddable platform to
Cirkinemeter: Arduino-Based Circular Kinematics Platform: Page 1
perform experiments on rotating, non-inertial frames
of reference. This is mainly because in physics
classrooms, students face lots of confusion when it
comes to "real" or "fictitious" forces. This is illustrated
in the comic above.
Additionally, the Cirkinemeter serves to provide
students a quantitative data on the Coriolis force in
the rotating frame. Unfortunately, this concept is often
only taught on a qualitative scale in high school
lessons. The Cirkinemeter's turn table platform
provides a polar grid which students can use to
generate polar graphs.
This instructables focuses on how to build the
Cirkinemeter from its base parts. A video
demonstration of the platform will be provided at a
later date.
Step 1: Housings 1: the Regions
Region 1 (Pic 1 and 2): This region shows parts
related to securing the motor in place. The large
square base (pic 1) attaches to 4 small walls (pic 2),
which provide a housing for the motor to rest in. The
small screw mount (top of pic 2) goes on top of the
mount and is used to screw the motor in place so that
the motor does not jerk.
Region 2 (Pic 3 and 4): This region's parts are for
attaching the large spinning disk to the motor. Any
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experiments to measure centripetal or Coriolis forces
are performed on the large spinning disk (pic 4),
which is marked with several reference radii.
Region 3 (Pic 5): This region shows parts for holding
the IR Receiver. The receiver will detect the
transmitter (which will be on the large spinning disk)
and record the change in time between detections
(this is how we measure RPM).
Step 2: Housings 2.1: Constructing the Mount and Base
To construct region 1, we do the following:
Pic 1: The side walls are placed into the two parallel
rectangular holes of the base. The walls have bottom
and top notches which are used to click into the
base’s holes. The text “Side Walls B----> F” for BOTH
side walls should point towards the front as labeled
on the base. The Back Wall is placed behind the side
walls with its text facing the Back as labeled on the
base.
Pic 2: The top is placed on top of the walls (the three
upper notches of each wall correspond to three
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rectangle holes on the top). The top is placed such
that the engraved line faces the front as labeled on
the base.
Pic 3: The screw mount is then placed on the
engraved rectangle of the top. The two holes on the
mount are where screws will be inserted to secure the
motor.
Use scraps of plastic for additional support when
assembling.
Step 3: Housings 2.2: Constructing the Sensor Stand

To construct Region 3, we do the following:

Pic 1: Place the Sensor stand through its base and weld them together. To keep it perfectly straight up, gently
weld and press scrap pieces of plastic over the hanging ends of the stand (that fill the length of the hole in the
base).

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Step 4: Housings 2.3: Modifying the Spinning Disk

We take the IR transmitter holder (the rectangular piece) and weld it to the underside of the large spinning disk,
with the text "ceiling" oriented as seen in the image. The holder should be placed around the large, non-centered
hole of the disk as seen.

Step 5: Motor 1: the Parts

The parts seen in the image all come from a company called ServoCity.

These parts enable the connection of the rotating disk to the rest of the platform.

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Step 6: Motor 2: Attaching Disks to the Motor
Next, we take the components, and start assembling
them.
Pic 1: The motor is secured to the base and mount
through the clamp. The clamp tightens around the
motor and its screw holes are secured to the plastic
screw piece.
Pic 2: A hub and adapter are screwed onto the
motor's spindle. the adapter has eight screw holes
parallel to the ceiling of the mount. Four of these
holes are threaded (alternate).
Pic 3: The Connector disk is then screwed to the
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adapter.
Pic 4: A spacing disk is placed on top with the holes
aligned. This allows the spinning disk to be screwed
on top without any interference from Pic 2's screws.
Pic 5: Finally, the rotating disk is placed on top of the
setup and is screwed down with 4-40 screws (1/2
inch long). The screws go through all three plastic
disks and are secured by nuts.
This completes the entire turn-table housing for
the Cirkinemeter.
Cirkinemeter: Arduino-Based Circular Kinematics Platform: Page 7
Step 7: Electronics 1: the Two Components and Their Purposes
Now, we look at the parts needed for the electronics.
They can be broken into two main categories, the
Motherboard and Accelerometer Device
The Motherboard performs several key functions, as
listed:
* Measure the angular velocity (radians per second or
revolutions per second)
Step 8: Electronics 2.1: Parts of the Motherboard
Here, we look at the parts and steps needed to
assemble the Motherboard.
Pic 1: The main controller is the Adafruit Feather 32u
4. It is a variation of Arduino and is completely open
source. This is the chip that handles taking in input
and publishing data. Adafruit has a series of similarly
sized chips called feathers and wings. They are all
interconnectable and perform various tasks. Go here
to learn more about it.
Pict 2: The OLED feather wing is a visual display
which can be placed directly on top of the feather. It
has three buttons labeled A, B, C which connect to
the feather pins 5,6, and 9, respectively.
Pic 3: The Joystick acts as the manual controller of
the Motherboard. It can move in two axes, X and Y.
The X-axis controls the direction of the motor while
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* Control the Motor's RPM and direction (CW or
CCW)
* Print the Angular Velocity on a visual display
The Accelerometer device directly measures the
acceleration felt on the rotating disk and publishes the
data to smartphones.
the Y-axis controls the speed the motor travels at.
Pic 4: The TB66 is an electrical component that
belongs to a family of circuits called H-bridges. This
provides the motherboard the ability to change the
direction of the motor.
Pic 5: The IR Breakbeam sensor is used to measure
angular velocity. The transmitter () is placed on the
rotating wheel. When it passes the receiver (), the
receiver then sends a signal to the feather, which
calculates angular velocity.
Pic 6: To make the connections, I made a customized
PCB which allows people to directly insert the
components into. For those curious about how to
make manual connections, a table is given on the
next steps.
Cirkinemeter: Arduino-Based Circular Kinematics Platform: Page 9
Step 9: Electronics 2.2: Assembling the Motherboard

To assemble the motherboard, place the components into the PCB as seen in the image.

For the coding pin connections themselves, see the table below:

Feather pin | TB66 pin

6 | Bin1

9 | Bin2

11 | PWM A and B

Feather pin | Joystick pin

A0 | Xout

A1 | Yout

Step 10: Electronics 3.1: Parts of the Accelerometer

Pic 1: Like the motherboard, the Accelerometer uses
a Feather 32u4 for the main controller.
Pic 2: The LIS3DH chip is what directly measures
acceleration in 3 axes (as seen in the image). For
instance, the chip, if placed on a table, would
measure g m/s/s on the z-axis as a result of gravity
pulling it against the table's surface.
Pic 3: The HC-06 is used to publish the data. It
utilizes bluetooth and sends the Acceleration
measurements to a smartphone.
Pic 4: The PCB has pins available for all of the other
three components.

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Cirkinemeter: Arduino-Based Circular Kinematics Platform: Page 11
Step 11: Electronics 3.2: Assembling the Accelerometer

Insert the components into the PCB as seen in the image above.

For the coding pin connections themselves, see the table below:

Feather Pin | LIS3DH Pin

SCL | SCL

SDA | SDA

Feather Pin | HC-06 Pin

11 | RX (Bluetooth receive)

10 | TX (Bluetooth Transmit)

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Step 12: The Code

All of the code for the Cirkinemeter is available on They run on arduino. Go to here for feather library
Github. See the links below: installation and here for the feather OLED library
installation.
Motherboard

Accelerometer

Step 13: Finally...

Pic 1: Send the Receiver through the stand and the transmitter through the support on the rotating disk. Make sure
they align in height properly

And then Pic 2: YOU HAVE BUILT A CIRKINEMETER!

Great project! I love the idea and I love the cartoon in the beginning. One question though
regarding the IR: if the transmitter is on the rotating wheel, aren't the wires going to be tangled after
a few turns? Have you considered the idea of having the transmitter and the receiver stationary,
and just cutting the IR by an opaque tab placed under the rotating wheel?
You know, I had that same idea at one point and there is nothing hindering about that idea,
whatsoever. However, even in this design, the transmitter's wires are not getting tangled. The
transmitter has its own power supply stuck to the bottom of the disk, so the wires don't extend to a
stationary source. Thanks!

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