Makers Week Featured Story: Belt Driven Actuator Used in Unique Balloon Scale

How many balloons would it take to lift you into the air?

Summer is officially here, with Memorial Day behind us and the Summer Solstice on its way! For many Eastern Pennsylvanians, including Macron employees, this marks the beginning of many trips to the mountains and the shore. For those of us at Macron who head to the shore, we’ve had the opportunity to visit the boardwalk and it’s rides, food, and arcades.

While most shore-goers only see arcades for their entertainment value, Macron employees are always taking a deeper look into the mechanics behind them. When hitting the arcade at the boardwalk, you may notice the “Balloon Man” scale.

How it works:
Just in time for Makers Week, one of Macron’s belt driven actuators was used for this unique balloon scale. A lot of interesting technology goes in to making this special scale work. The count pointer is driven by a MacSTANDARD MSA-PSC actuator.

The PSC actuator is Macron’s most economical belt driven product. Tens of thousands of these actuators can be found inside all types of machines from the factory floor to the boardwalk arcade. The actuator is intended for the non-precision application that demands maintenance free operation at an economical value.

The MSA-PSC is perfect for the maker community and can be easily altered with standard shop tools to fit travel and length needs. “Connector kits” are available to create multi-axis systems for imaginative creations.

Take a look at our MSA-PSC belt driven actuator driving the pointer of the balloon scale.

Interested in a similar solution? Explore our variety of MacSTANDARD actuators on our Ships Fast plan.