Are there any alternatives to an electric actuator?

[guniv]

Originally Posted by EricH

You could make your own actuator, in a sense. It's a matter of linkages, though, and a slow-enough motor. I know a typical window motor can slap through 120 degrees in a second or less... but if you were to use a linkage on an arm off of that you could slow that way down.

Actually, this is where a speed controller can come in really handy. You can take a lot of the speed out in the speed controller if you want to, meaning a smaller (or no) gearbox.

We use a DART this year with a linkage setup to pivot our wedge/arm/shooter. If we didn't, the DART would drop too low to provide pivot and would only push against it.

Pic: https://www.facebook.com/LNRobotics/...09258065893970

Don't know if this is relevant to what OP is trying to do.