banebot smoke
 

We are using a banebot 550 in a Cimulator. This is driving two of our wheels for the shooter. After a couple of minutes of running, there was a fair amount of smoke and we noticed the white plastic blade that cools the motor was melting. We have a spacer between the cimulator and the motor to allow air to enter through the front of the motor. Any ideas?

Re: banebot smoke
 

My guess is that your spacer still isn't allowing enough airflow. You might do well to look into machining grooves for ventilation into the CIM-U-Lator plates. There's a thread addressing this. We've posted CAD drawings of our modifications.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=cimulator

I can't think of any other reason, unless maybe your motors are opposing each other, although I'd think that if that were the case it would have been caught ealier.

Re: banebot smoke
 

The quickest way to generate heat on those motors is to run them at a stall. Are you using the motors to hold an arm steady while a force is applied? If so, you are stalling the motors.

If your motors are spinning and are still melting, I would guess air flow would be your issue. Hope this helps!

Re: banebot smoke
 

We smoked a 775 with an over aggressive PID. It was applying alternating large plus and minus motor sets. It didn't take long.

Re: banebot smoke
 

What is the total gear ratio from the 550 to the wheels?

What voltage are you running the motor at, and what is the speed of your wheel at that voltage?

Re: banebot smoke
 

Well, this happens when the motors are running full speed. We don't need them running full speed, only like 1/4. No problem with the temperature at all at that point.