ALCS 50-speed crystal motor for ACL, Kinor, Krasnogorsk etc

[Aapo Lettinen]

I started to work on a new "universal" crystal motor design when I figured out a way to fit the 2-character led display with 0-99ft counter and 50-speed crystal selector to the same size of casing than my Universal 4-speed motor uses. I am intending using either the same casing or making it just couple of mm larger if needed. 

Will make a batch of these motors in October2026, it is already possible to order them and early preorders will get good discounts. Normal price is 850usd with shipping and dtap cable. camera specific mounting part kits sold separately or one can make them from the included cad files. all the 4-speed compatible mounting parts work with this new motor. 

Reference photos with temporary paper control panel. I am sending the black aluminium control panels to manufacturing later this month and will post more photos when receiving them back. 

This 50-speed design is kind of a hybrid of my 10-speed motor's footage counter and the crystal sync generator of my cp16r45speed system with the advanced crystal sync code of my 4speedV2 motor I am finishing next month. 

The control panel can be turned upside down and the rotation direction changed for using with different camera models. So it can be mounted to the left side of camera for ACL and to the right side for most other camera models. 

Works with 14.4v vlock batteries via dtap cable and up to 18v battery can be used if needed. Top speed will likely be 75fps 

[Aapo Lettinen]

These are the final control panels, the final motors will look the same except the protective lacquer will be added to the panel and the motor body will likely be grey instead of this pink casing shown here. Working on the software in Summer

[Aapo Lettinen]

I calculated that I need to order all the materials for the final Spring2027 batches of all Universal Motors in November2026. Thus if someone wants to ensure getting a Universal Motor in 2027 it needs to be preordered, I will only make couple of extra ones of each model. 

Preordering requires a deposit of 40% in November so that I can buy the materials for your motor. The rest can be paid in February-March2027. Planned batches of EXR and 50-speed motors will be made between April and June 2027. After that I will only sell the possible couple of extra ones I hopefully could make in May2027.

I will change the all-integrated motor systems after June2027 so that I will only sell crystal controllers in separate boxes like my 16-speed and 12-speed ACL motors were, and you need to build the rest of the motor diy. So the crystal controller is in a separate Aaton Counter -style box with a connector and you need to build the actual motor mounting to the camera from scratch. I will make some cad file of a motor unit but you still need to order materials for it and build it by yourself.

The 6-speed DIY motor kits will likely be discontinued in late Spring2027 too. Order early on when still possible, I will stop making those circuit boards after October2026 and they will run out before Summer2027.

[Tyler Fukuda]

Hey Aapo, I don't see any mention of what speeds are offered for this motor. Do you mind listing each individual speed this is capable of? Thanks

[Aapo Lettinen]

6 hours ago, Tyler Fukuda said:

Hey Aapo, I don't see any mention of what speeds are offered for this motor. Do you mind listing each individual speed this is capable of? Thanks

listing each of the 50 speeds?

it runs from 10fps to 75fps.

the 23 preset is 23.976,  the 29 preset is 29.98, the 33 preset is 33.333 and the rest are the exact framerate the 2 digit display shows. 

larger than 1fps steps will likely be at highest framerates between 50fps and 75fps so there it does not advance in 1fps steps but maybe 2fps steps or more. 

I have a history of adding more speed presets to motors than the nameplate indicates, for example the original 4-speed motor immediately had 6 speeds, the 10-speed motor had 20 speeds and the 6-speed EXR has 7 speeds. So the 50-speed motor should be treated as "50 or slightly more speeds" .  It is just that I make the control panels at the same time than circuit boards and the software is made much later.

In the case of the 50-speed I did not know in Spring what is the lowest framerate it can run stably for not having the final crystal sync software yet so I did not know at that point what the exact number of possible speeds which could be added to it would be. I need to get the control panels finished early on to get any orders. Orders make it possible to write the software and test them. Not going to change the already-finished panels half a year afterwards because deciding adding more speeds and it suddenly becomes a 60-speed motor or something 😂 as long as it has at least the promised 50 speeds it will work fine

[Aapo Lettinen]

approximate framerate list at the moment. might change but this has 53 presets which is about what was ordered. It is slower to change the speed if there is too many presets so I took off the obviously never-used ones already

 

[Aapo Lettinen]

I will probably make the motor switchable between "limited fps steps mode" with about 14 presets which is fast to use, and the full fps mode which has 1fps steps. So the limited mode has the common sync speeds and some other often used speeds but no extra oddballs which people don't typically need.

The full mode which is slow to use allows choosing never-used oddball framerates like 67fps fps if needed

[Aapo Lettinen]

12 minutes ago, Aapo Lettinen said:

I will probably make the motor switchable between "limited fps steps mode" with about 14 presets which is fast to use, and the full fps mode which has 1fps steps. So the limited mode has the common sync speeds and some other often used speeds but no extra oddballs which people don't typically need.

The full mode which is slow to use allows choosing never-used oddball framerates like 67fps fps if needed

probably will just make it like this. 

Limited mode presets in green. the full mode has all the other steps too. Mode is changeable during startup of the motor

[Tyler Fukuda]

Incredible thank you for posting! Super helpful in deciding between the options

[Aapo Lettinen]