Rotary encoders can be found in a wide range of applications in modern electronics. This is a simple yet fully working model of a rotary encoder.

Print and use at own risk.

FlashForge

Adventurer 3

No

No

0,3 mm

100 %

• both 3D-printed parts, one piece of each
• aluminium tape
• 1 mm wire (I used silver coated copper wire)
• 3 mm wood screw
• 6 mm wooden dowel
• wooden base
• CA glue

Tools:

• drill
• 1 mm & 6 mm drill bits
• wood saw
• sharp knife
• screwdriver

Electronics:

• Arduino Uno or similar
• wire
• 2 10 kΩ resistors

This is an easy step, yet it needs to be done precisely. Press the aluminium tape firmly onto the printed part and make sure to cover the edges. Then use the knife to cut off access material and press again.

If the tape doesn't stick well to the edges the contacts may rip the tape off.

Cut three parts of 1 mm wire. Then bend one end of each wire to a closed loop. The loop is used to avoid sharp edges that may damage the aluminium tape. Carefully use the 1 mm drill bit to clear the three holes of the 3d printed part. Afterwards insert the three wires into the block with the loop facing down.

The next step is crucial for a properly working model:

The contacts must apply the right amount of pressure on the disk. Too weak pressure results in bad connections and bad readings. Too much pressure will damage the tape.

Place both disk and block on a flat surface and make sure, all three contacts touch the tape before gluing. It might be helpful to bend the contacts into a slightly rounded shape. This way they act as a spring.

I clamped one LED each between the left and centre as well as the right and the centre contact to make sure there is an electrical connection before, while and after gluing.

Use the piece of wood to assemble everything. The disk can be connected using the piece of wooden dowel, the contact block can be screwed in place. This step is self-explanatory.

Connect everything as shown in the diagram above.

Load the "InterruptRotator" sketch on the Arduino. The sketch was written by Matthias Hertel way back in 2014 and can be found in the Arduino IDE examples.

The sketch detects the direction of rotation as well as the absolute number of steps. A screenshot was added.