Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted March 29 Premium Member Posted March 29 (edited) I am working on a design which is compatible with ACL, Kinor and other cameras with 1:1 drive axle. Wanted to make it as compact as possible and relatively affordable. Just speeds of 16fps, 24fps, 25fps and 33.333fps and works at 14.8v so vlocks work fine for powering these. Other camera motors and items are for scale. 3d printed first draft, the final motor body will be cnc machined aluminium with aluminium control panel. Price 650usd without mounting parts (but cad files for Kinor and ACL mounting parts are included) or 850usd with one set of mounting parts for either Kinor or ACL camera. Let me know in April2025 if wanting to order these, I will make one batch in May2025 to use the rest of the parts I have in stock and likely these won't be available later. DM here on the forum or on Instagram (aaplet14). Edited March 29 by Aapo Lettinen
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted March 29 Author Premium Member Posted March 29 Control panel design. Sent these to manufacturing yesterday. 1
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted May 7 Author Premium Member Posted May 7 I will add 48fps and 50fps to the 4-speed Universal Motor! So it will have a total of 6 crystal speeds now: 16fps, 24fps, 25fps, 33.333fps, 48fps and 50fps. it will have the same user interface, I will just add the extra speeds in between leds so that they light up differently when 48fps or 50fps is selected. there is no room for extra lights which is why I originally made this 4-speed as there is only enough room for 4 leds, but I determined now that it is not too confusing to add the two extra speeds in between of the existing ones to have the requested 48fps included for the same price. Over 33.333 will need 18v battery, the other speeds work at 14.8v if needed. The price will be the same (650usd without camera specific axle and mounting parts, 850usd with the mounting parts and axle adapter included). I will send the motor body to cnc machining in late May, if wanting to order these let me know asap. Possible to pay in two parts if needed (50% when placing the order, the other 50% in mid June. The motors will ship in late June). dm here or on Instagram (aaplet14). Facebook messenger does not work.
Premium Member Okto Simaia Posted May 12 Premium Member Posted May 12 Nice work! On the original Kinor motor, it looks like it doesn't stick out as far, and the grip appears to be attached to the motor housing, is that correct? Does it use a right-angle drive?
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted May 12 Author Premium Member Posted May 12 (edited) 44 minutes ago, Okto Simaia said: Nice work! On the original Kinor motor, it looks like it doesn't stick out as far, and the grip appears to be attached to the motor housing, is that correct? Does it use a right-angle drive? Thanks! The original Kinor motor has integrated handle and is quite large sized compared to this motor. The original is also "more thick" with the handle... even with the inching knob guard ring the 4-speed is thinner. The 4-speed uses direct drive motor whereas the original Kinor motor has angle gear drive and has two generators along with the electric dc motor (pilotone generator and separate generator for speed reference measuring). And large-ish electronics box attached on top of the motor. This explains why the original motor is so much larger than the 4-speed system, I think the original is about 5x the volume of the 4-speed motor at least. The 4-speed has to be fully ambidextrous and as small sized as possible which led to the current design. Can be mounted to the camera left or camera right side without any modifications as the panel can be read both ways and user can change the rotation direction by internal jumper. it has a really small main circuit board, a bit smaller than a matchbox and minimal parts used to make the functionality, this both makes it as compact as possible and allows lowering the price. Some people have asked if the 4-speed motor could have some kind of integrated plate on it to allow screwing on battery mounts and handles etc. but I have commented it is not a good idea to mount anything extra on the motor as those heavy extra items easily shift the motor on its camera mounting plate just a tiny bit when operating which may hugely affect sound levels of the motor and causes unnecessary extra stress to the mounting system. If someone would need extra attachent points and specifically wants them to be from the motor mount instead of (the more ideal option) of attaching to the camera body itself elsewhere.... then one could make a separate "Aapo's 4-bolt Motor Mount"-to-Kinor adapter which has this extra "mounting arm" integrated into the design and the attachment point is part of the motor-to-camera intermediate adapter and not attached to the motor itself. When purchasing this 4-speed motor, one gets access to the cad file of the motor-to-camera mounting adapter and can thus just take it to a cad program and design extra stuff attached to it if needed, then get it cnc machined. If it is a good design it would be nice to share the file with others using this motor but at least we want to see photos of mods if nothing else 🙂 Edited May 12 by Aapo Lettinen
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted June 8 Author Premium Member Posted June 8 ANYONE NEEDING THE 4-SPEED OR 10-SPEED UNIVERSAL MOTOR FOR KINOR16, LET ME KNOW ASAP. dm here or on Instagram (aaplet14). I am ordering Kinor specific mounting parts soon and need to know how many are needed. Additionally will order the motor bodies for the 4-speed system in the next 7 days, thus needing the exact amount needed. If missing out it can take months to make another batch of motors so please let me know before June 15th ! 1
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted June 17 Author Premium Member Posted June 17 cad designing the 4-speed motor's aluminium body. will 3d print a test piece of out plastic to ensure dimensions and motor drive fitting, possibly this version can be sent to cnc machining already but we'll see 🙂 (circuit board cad model intentionally altered to not show all the details. I already have the final circuit boards and working on the software at the moment)
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted June 17 Author Premium Member Posted June 17 Final Kinor adapter to mount the 4-speed and 10-speed motors to the Kinor16 cameras! cnc machined aluminium. one can order the motor with this mounting adapter and axle adapter or get the bare motor and use the included cad files to make these adapters elsewhere. Or if you want to make some super special "add a huge cheeseplate to the adapter with v-lock mount and integrated light" then you can use the cad file and just add to it the stuff you need 🙂
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted June 18 Author Premium Member Posted June 18 16 hours ago, Aapo Lettinen said: cad designing the 4-speed motor's aluminium body. will 3d print a test piece of out plastic to ensure dimensions and motor drive fitting, possibly this version can be sent to cnc machining already but we'll see 🙂 (circuit board cad model intentionally altered to not show all the details. I already have the final circuit boards and working on the software at the moment) the 3d printing test was ok and I ordered three of these motor bodies in aluminium now. Should receive them in the end of next week. Because I have tons of other projects at the same time, I need to make smaller batches of these than originally intended. The June2025 batch of three motors is already sold but if you want a motor from the Late July / Early August 2025 batch let me know asap and I will order another batch of parts in mid July. Will need to know how many motors needed, if you need mounting parts or not and which mounting parts for which camera. usually I only stock one or two kits of mounting parts so will need to know 3 weeks beforehand if more mounting parts needed. DM here or on Instagram (aaplet14)
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted June 23 Author Premium Member Posted June 23 Finished Kinor16 axle adapter and mounting plate, testing with my 12-speed Eclair ACL motor. I will make 10-speed and 4-speed Universal motors for my own camera, it was just quickest to check with my old 12-speed system because it has same mounting and was immediately available 🙂 So all the mechanical parts are finished now. Will wait for the 4-speed motor bodies to arrive and will then start assembling. Works fine with the Kinor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66tdXrgfXXc&list=PLXvIUtmF3OxswaCvqLMXPKLQsvMZx9zpo
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 2 Author Premium Member Posted July 2 Final 4-speed motor aluminium bodies arrived today! Will assemble these first 3 next week. There is one test motor for me and the other two are already sold, but if needing a motor like this I will make more in August2025 and you can order from that batch 🙂
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 2 Author Premium Member Posted July 2 a short video about the aluminium casings and other stuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl5IMaj5WIY
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 8 Author Premium Member Posted July 8 Testing the prototype unit with Kinor and fine tuning the software for best stability and response. Assembling the final motors later this week but will need to test the software with ACL camera too before can lock the final version and fully assemble all the motors in the batch
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 11 Author Premium Member Posted July 11 motor working with Kinor16, testing the crystal sync software version. this version was running about 0.015fps underspeed and corrected the difference in later versions. The final one is running very exact.
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 11 Author Premium Member Posted July 11 2 hours ago, Aapo Lettinen said: motor working with Kinor16, testing the crystal sync software version. this version was running about 0.015fps underspeed and corrected the difference in later versions. The final one is running very exact. longer video with some talking about what I am doing
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 11 Author Premium Member Posted July 11 (edited) final software version and how the speed presets are arranged etc. the front panel is not final on the prototype, the final panel has larger hole for the button so that one can use it with finger easily Edited July 11 by Aapo Lettinen
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 15 Author Premium Member Posted July 15 photos of the Kinor16 with the new 4-speed motor for better size comparison. 100ft magazine and 12-120mm lens on the camera. I will design a bracket which allows installing a off-the-shelf Mini-Vlock plate like Smallrig or similar to the motor system, will need it for my own projects and will try to make it so that the bracket can be 3d printed if needed and not mandatory to be aluminium. When I'll have the mini-vlock system for power this setup will be great for run-and-gun type shooting. 1
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 17 Author Premium Member Posted July 17 The next batch of motors will be made in late August or early September 2025. Some people have asked about black surface finish on the aluminium body of the motor and that is possible if ordering before August 1st. If wanting just some colored motor from the August batch then should be fine to order before August 10th. Otherwise, if ordering late or if ordering from the possible 3rd batch (which may or may not be made in November 2025) I reserve the right to deliver the motor in whichever color I happen to have in storage 😄 and because I'm a funny guy those 3rd batch motors will likely be either PINK OR YELLOW so if you specifically want to have a neutral colored motor it is highly recommended to preorder them early on 😄 1
David Bernard Anderson III Posted July 21 Posted July 21 On 7/17/2025 at 5:31 PM, Aapo Lettinen said: The next batch of motors will be made in late August or early September 2025. Some people have asked about black surface finish on the aluminium body of the motor and that is possible if ordering before August 1st. If wanting just some colored motor from the August batch then should be fine to order before August 10th. Otherwise, if ordering late or if ordering from the possible 3rd batch (which may or may not be made in November 2025) I reserve the right to deliver the motor in whichever color I happen to have in storage 😄 and because I'm a funny guy those 3rd batch motors will likely be either PINK OR YELLOW so if you specifically want to have a neutral colored motor it is highly recommended to preorder them early on 😄 Wait! Can I get mine for the pink batch? That’s so dope! 1
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 23 Author Premium Member Posted July 23 On 7/21/2025 at 6:07 AM, David Bernard Anderson III said: Wait! Can I get mine for the pink batch? That’s so dope! Yes of course! the two persons who ordered black motors canceled so I will probably make them all pink 😂
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 23 Author Premium Member Posted July 23 drafting a 3d-printable plate which allows attaching a mini-vlock plate to the motor body so that small-enough batteries could be used with it when using with Kinor16. ACL has smaller mounting screws on the camera body side and the motor is on the operator side on the ACL so would not use this kind of arrangement with ACL. But on Kinor and other cameras with sturdy-enough mounting and right side mounted motor it could be usable option. This draft design made super thick so that it should hold the battery even if home printed out of cheapest PLA. The idea is to gather all kinds of misc models which are included with the motor purchase and one can print and test them out if wanted. I could make aluminium battery plate holder system too which would be much thinner and more elegant but it would cost a lot more to make so I think a 3d printed one would be just fine for most uses. One can get them printed out of ABS if wanting it to last longer 1
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 27 Author Premium Member Posted July 27 Preparing the Kinor for some film tests! my 50Wh mini-vlock was faulty so using the camera with these huge 142Wh mini-vlocks which could power it for a week 😅
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 28 Author Premium Member Posted July 28 some real world shooting tests. loaded a 100ft roll of Orwo N75 and shot some documentary stuff 1
Premium Member Aapo Lettinen Posted July 28 Author Premium Member Posted July 28 More photos of how the motor looks like with Kinor:
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