Small Banebots Motor Issue - Lessened torque and smoke

[sanddrag]

We are having a serious issue with the small bane bots motor in the 64:1 gearbox in the kit. This exact problem has also been reported by three other teams I have talked to. The scenario was lifting a rather light weight arm that was not terribly long. There was additional reduction after the gearbox, in the range from 2:1 to 9:1. Calculations show that even in the 2:1 scenario (my team), the drive should have powered the arm rapidly with more than enough torque available. The arm was unable to lift, and the motor started smoking as soon as it enountered any sort of real load. This problem was encountered the very first time the motor was tested in a load condition. This is the same problem three other teams have reported to me. The motor never once tripped a breaker (20A on my team), which, if it was stalling (spec'd) stall current about 37 amps isn't it?) it really should have. And it should trip a breaker before it ever starts smoking.

So, I don't know what's going on here. Post if it happened to you, and post if you know why.