I considered a project similar to this a while back and felt that my best 
solution would be to use the electric controlled jack screw intended to 
position a satellite dish as the actuator. Not really all that expensive for 
the power. Also, don't overlook the many automotive actuators.

My resistance to stepper motors is that finding the initial position and 
assuring that no steps are missed is not trivial.

John Ferrell    W8CCW
"Life is easier if you learn to plow
       around the stumps"
http://DixieNC.US

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob J." <rocketbob@gmail.com>
To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 9:17 PM
Subject: [PIC] r/c receiver interfacing


>I am looking to build what is essentially an a huge radio-controlled servo
> with a stepper motor.  In order to drive the stepper motor, I have to
> convert the r/c receiver's pulses into step/direction pulses.  To my great
> surprise I googled for something off-the-shelf to do this, but have come 
> up
> empty-handed.  Has anyone done this sort of thing?
>
> Regards,
> Bob
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