Motorized Moving Target Stand

This is a moving target stand I came up with back in 2009.  I figured it would be good practice for IDPA type shooting or just some fun shooting in general.

Here is a video of the stand in action.  (sorry for the screwed up sound)

The track of the frame is made up of a few aluminum channels I had laying around. I welded some flat stock aluminum to the bottom of these channels to form the main frame.  I used a product called ALUMALOY (which look like welding sticks but works with a propane torch) to weld the aluminum pieces together.

The motorized carriage rides in these channels and holds the target.

A few simple clamps are bolted to the carriage to hold the targets.

The carriage rides along the frame channels via four small wheels. (I think these were from drawer slides.)

The carriage is moved by a motor and planetary gearbox which is powered by a small battery pack I took out of a R/C plane. The motor and planetary gearbox which I bought from MicroMark has 14 different gearbox combinations which can provide complete output speed range from 13.8 to 6,560 rpm. I don’t remember what ratio I used but it can be changed if I wanted to increase or decrease the target movement speed.

The motor/gearbox set up are attached to a block that was machined from a piece of cutting board.  I then used a belt and aluminum machined pulleys to drive a couple of spools machined from a piece of solid PVC bar stock.

As the pulleys turn they wind up sting that is attached to the frame and this pulls the carriage along the frame.

I just used a couple of bolts on each end of the frame to attach the string too. This keeps it elevated and off the ground (for the most part.)

There is a 3 Position 6 Pin Center Off type switch under the carriage that hits a stop on each end of the frame. When the switch hits the stop it throws the switch and this reverses the polarity to the motor making it run in the other direction.

This is a wiring diagram for the switch I used. (taken from my other website.)

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