Noisy motor  

Hi Lorenzo,

Thanks for the feedback.
When we developed the PINE Controller, and especially the PINE R, cost was always in our focus and we wanted to keep the sale price relatively low. As a result, we choose not to utilize the expensive silent motor drivers and instead went with powerful and efficient standard motor drivers. Those standard drivers show the regular stepper motor noise as you experience it. For most of the application modes that PINE offers, noisy motors are not an issue (e.g. Timelapse, Gigapixel, 360-Degree etc.). However, I agree that for video/audio recordings, it might not be ideal. 

You can play around with dampening and reducing vibrations as you already mentioned. But ultimately, the noise will not go away.

Would you be interested in a PINE version that has completely silent motor operation?

Best regards,
Patrick

Hi Patrick.

That's good to hear, as I've been spending quite a lot of time and effort trying to minimize the noise.

Right now I'm mostly using the Pine and my slider for timelapses and video shoots where noise is not a concern, but, I may have some situations coming up where silent recording would be mandatory, so yes, I'd be interested.

This also depends on cost and hassle of the whole operation, I mean: would I need to buy a new controller or is there some kind of modification that could be performed on my Pine (provided I send it back to you)? Wha would be the pros/cons of switching to a different driver (silent operation being the obvious pro)?

Best

L.

Hi Lorenzo,

Unfortunately, the current PINE Controllers cannot be upgraded as the entire main board will have to be changed.

Our PINE Controller has been around for over 2 years now and so we've been planning and developing on a possible 2nd generation PINE. 
The following features are planned for the 2nd generation PINE:

• Silent Motor Drivers (almost no noise during motor movement makes this PINE ideal for video and audio recordings)
• Possible to drive more powerful motors (up to 2.5A vs. 1.5A for the 1st generation PINE)
• Very efficient drivers (produce less heat compared to 1st generation PINE)
• Possibility to connect multiple PINE with each other to increase number of motors
• Motor operation via external devices like PS4 and XBox Gamer Controller (wireless or via USB cable)
• Some new operation modes exclusive to the 2nd generation PINE

So in short, the 2nd generation PINE will have all the features of the 1st generation (plus some additional) while being optimized also for video recordings due to the silent drivers.

All the best,
Patrick

That's very interesting, thank you for letting me know. I guess I'll have to wait then.

Please, also consider making a Mac/PC version of the control app: I sometimes shoot tethered to my MacBook Pro with Lightroom for instant capture, so having the control app remotely connected over Bluetooth to the Pine on the same device could be pretty convenient.

Best

When will be the second Generation available?