Question for the masses:
We are using a Fisher Price motor with our robot, and we ran into a little snag…
(now that you’re done scouring the picture for our design )
The motor on the left is the one attached to the robot, rather permanently, and as you can somewhat see (sorry it’s out of focus, bad camera), it’s kinda missing some connection leads. The motor on the right is the spare we have with intact leads, ready to be swapped out if needed. Now begs the question… do we need to? Do[es] any team[s] have actual experience with soldering to a broken lead of a FP? My initial thought was it can’t be done, but it would save a lot of time and our spare motor if we were able to use it as is, because the motor is semi-permanently attached.
Take-away: When people say “add strain reliefs to those motor wires,” actually add strain reliefs!
I have soldered new connections on to banebots motors that had this happen to them, but I would really only recommend that if it is a temporary fix while waiting for a new motor. It is also possible to remove the back plate and put new wire leads in, then carefully reassemble the motor (we did this while at one of the tournaments last year). Again, I would only recommend either of these if its a dire situation when there isn’t time to get a new motor.
Soooo, it’s kind of fun doing the impossible.
I know this isn’t exactly the most conventional way, but we managed to make it work. If there’s one thing we’re incredibly good at on Team 811, it’s defying convention and jerry-rigging something to make it work. We actually melted the plastic housing around the contacts and inserted a new piece of metal to add a contact point. Not exactly the best plan, but it actually works.
I do believe melting the motor housing is technically illegal, but depending on the extent to which it was done, a regional inspector might allow it if the motor is functionally unchanged and uncompromised electrically or from the standpoint of safety. If you go to worlds, the inspectors will likely be more strict.
One could technically say we did change the motors, yes. That will have to be looked at thoroughly to be sure we’re not breaking or lawyering any rules. Functionally there were no changes made to it, just soldered a bigger mounting surface to the contact leads. We’ve checked and the system is still isolated from the motor housing so we’re still electrically neutral with no shorts. Our other motor is being prepped for swapping it out anyways, for the second it has any hiccups it’s getting replaced, but this way we can continue testing and calibrating our shooter (another tread to follow!). Thanks all.
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