What is this thing?

[kprzewodek]

Originally Posted by Skywalkar

Unfortunately, no; the reason why we weren't able to place an order for a second year of donations turned out to be that the 2015 spindle motor was going out of production altogether.

You should be able to find that particular motor from third-party resellers or scrap yards for a while yet, since that motor was most recently used in vehicles built on the GM Alpha platform:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Alpha_platform

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Here's the closest motor that I could find out of what we're currently producing right now:
http://www.bosch-ibusiness.com/boaae...57/product/614
It drops the Hall sensor, but the other characteristics and dimensions are quite similar.

While I'm at it, here are a few others like it:
http://www.bosch-ibusiness.com/boaae...%20Spindle/357

The public-facing method for purchasing these motors is located here:
http://www.bosch-ibusiness.com/boaae...m?locale=en_GB

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I don't personally work in the motors group, however, so there may be easier (or cheaper) ways than what I've found here. Let me contact Kevin (the lead associate in getting these motors available in the first place) and see if he's got any better ideas...

Slight correction....this was actually custom made for the KOP in 2015 using existing parts in NA. Due to there not being much positive feedback (or feedback at all) and high cost we decided to discontinue. Of course we want to find what is most useful to teams so remain open to suggestions.

I actually have around 10 left from last year. I can distribute according to interest but sparingly...just ask for what you need at the moment and be considerate that some may want to use on the robot this year. These types of motors are very common in the seat height/tilt adjustment and steering column adjustment functions so scrap yards are a great place to look.

As Ryan said there is a very similar motor offered on GM alpha vehicles which is basically the same. I'm not so familiar with the purchase as needed options since this just started up but can explore that a bit. Typically these parts are built as required so large stock was usually not kept for general public purchase. Will keep you posted as I hear/explore more.