We recently picked up two Neo minis and two BAG motors for our robot. The shafts are simply a circle, so how are we supposed to connect gears / sprockets to them?
If you’re using a Vex VersaPlanetary gearbox, you’ll need to follow the instructions on Page 13 of the VP manual
If you’re using 57 Sport or REV UltraPlanetary gearboxes, you’ll need to press on a pinion to use them.
We have looked at purchasing the VP’s but they are SUPER expensive, is their anything else we can use?
For the NEO 550s, they have a pattern in the back that has the same mounting pattern as a lot of REV’s hardware. You can attach gears, sprockets, and pulleys there. Doesn’t work for the BAG motor, but better than nothing. You could look at Versaplanetary Lites, they’re a bit cheaper.
(Links are the links provided on the product page for the 550)
That depends on what exactly you’re looking for. Start with a desired gear reduction - what ratio do you want? The ratio will help you determine what you need to do reduction-wise.
Planetary gear boxes are popular for the BAG and NEO 550 motorsfor a reason: their relatively high free speed (13180RPM and 11000RPM, respectively) and low stall torque means you need a larger reduction to make them usable for many applications. There are several planetary gearboxes you can choose from. The VersaPlanetary is probably the most flexible, and if you invest into that system, after a few years you’ll have plenty of extra stages to toss together just about anything you want for prototyping. The 57 Sport is also a great planetary gearbox, but not quite as flexible - I don’t believe it’ll work with the BAG motor, but should work with the NEO 550, being a 500-series motor. The optional “HD” stage they have is pretty nice though, helping to increase the available torque range of the last stage so you can get bigger reductions without exceeding the load ratings.
Other than planetary gearboxes, there are relatively few gearboxes for these motors - you’re more likely to find ones compatible with the NEO 550 than the BAG motor, I think, due to the relative standardization around the 500-series motor line. It’s difficult to get the gear ratios that are most often required for these kinds of motors out of a spur gear setup, so very few of those are generally available.
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There are plenty of options out there to connect things to the NEO 550 and BAG motors. As @Jon_Stratis pointed out, you will generally need a decent amount of gear reduction to turn the high speed of these motors into something useful to your robot. Here are a few options:
- Belts: Vex sells a GT2 pulley for both the RS 550 (same shaft as the NEO 550) and BAG motor
- Gears: 20DP pinion gears are available for 550 and Bag from Vex as well
- Planetary Gear boxes (as others have stated)
- For the NEO 550, there are a number of items that can be attached to the outrunner rotor as @Gavatron77 pointed out.
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