5:1 HPCB 12V Micro Metal Gearmotor Broken

Support Motor controllers/drivers and motors
1

Hello,

I have been using the motor in the title as a flywheel for a ping pong shooter. The balls come in below the wheel and are pulled up along two rails to be shot at a 45 degree angle above the wheel.

I have been running the motor with a 12V power supply through an arduino motor shield at the maximum PWM value for arduino of 255 to shoot the balls the furthest possible distance.

After working perfectly for many shots, the motor now makes a terrible noise when powered and barely spins fast enough to shoot a ball 6 inches. I assume the motor itself is broken from reading other posts.

My question is, did something I do cause it to break? Or are these motors simply not made to last long in such applications? I do not want to purchase another one only to have it break again.

Thanks!

2

Hello.

From your description, it sounds like something might have been damaged in the gearbox. Can you try removing it from your system and inspecting it to see if there is any signs of damage? Also, could you post some close-up pictures of the gearbox?

If there is damage to the gearbox, it is likely that the gearmotor is underpowered for your application. For example, the momentum of the flywheel could cause some larger spikes in torque, especially when starting up or changing directions. How much load do you expect from your flywheel? As noted on the gearmotor’s product page, the recommended upper limit for instantaneous torque is 35 oz-in, and we generally recommend running our motors at 25% or less of their stall torque.

Brandon