Thread: Motor Info
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Unread 03-08-2004, 00:05
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Re: Motor Info

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Shapiro
Hey everyone, hope you're all having a great summer. I just have a quick question in relation to the kit motors and gearing basics. Gearing has always been our team's weak point so I figure I may as well get started early while I can. So, my question is simple: when doing gearing calculations which specs do I use motor-wise? Do I use the free load speeds, max efficiency speeds, or some other number?

Hopefully you guys are still reading..
It all depends on what you're gearing your motor for anyways. Ideally, you should know how much load your motor will have to move. If you know this, then you can maximize the speed of the system by gearing it for the "maximum power" torque. you'd match up your output torque of your gear system to the torque required. I did this with our winch for lifting our robot last year.

If you're talking about gearing for a drive train, that's an entirely different story. You'd have to figure out the resistance in your drive train and plan around pushing other robots around, etc. I'm not as experinced in this area, so I can't say really. I'd stick with planning around the maximum power point and pick a gearing that gives you a decent output speed and torque. Definitely don't plan around free speed, since you'll never have a fricitonless drive system.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents. I know there's gonna be a load of better advice coming up right after this post, so I'll stop here.
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