I need a motor that can twist a bearing that is horizontal. The outer race of the bearing has chainrings so that It can be moved using a bike chain. I will design a chainring to go around the motor that I buy also, but I’m not sure which motor or driver I should use. It will need to move a lot of weight, (100lbs) but it doesn’t necessarily need to move very fast. Let me know if you have any ideas to help me out. Thanks.
Hello.
It is not exactly clear what you are planning to use your motor for (some drawings/diagram or pictures of the setup so far would probably be helpful), but barring some analysis to make sure the torque you need is appropriate for our motors and that the 100 pound weight of your load is decoupled from the output shaft of the motor, our brushed DC motors are likely underpowered for your application. As a reference point, the recommended upper limit for continuously applied loads is 10kg-cm (150oz-in) for our 37D gearmotors (which is our most powerful family of brushed DC motors).
We do have linear actuators that are designed to handle much higher loads akin to what it sounds like you have in your setup, but it is not immediately clear to me if that would be a practical option.
- Patrick
Thank you for responding so quickly. Here are hopefully more understandable specifications for the setup of the bearing it will be pushing:
- Mechanism: Horizontal chain ring and platform supported by bearings
- Platform Diameter: 10 1/4 inches
- Supported Weight: Approximately 120 lbs.
- Gear Teeth: 63 teeth
It is similar to an e-bike but horizontal, and supporting around 120lbs of weight. The weight will be decoupled from the motor, and I also attached an image which might be helpful. I labeled where the motor would go, and the dimensions stated earlier are depicting the bearing it will be moving. If anything is unclear or you need any additional information, please let me know!
The pictures make your setup much clearer; thanks.
Since the motor is decoupled from the weight and just rotating the load (rather than lifting it), that makes it more plausible that one of our motors might work. However, you are still dealing with a lot of inertia, and I am not sure how much friction to expect in your setup, so I recommend characterizing your torque requirements. If you are not familiar with that kind of thing, then you could start by reading this “Force and torque” blog post, but I would also try to research projects that are similar to yours and finding out what motors they use. Finding a comparable example should at least help you figure out whether a 5-10W motor will be okay, or if you should actually be looking at motors capable of a few hundred Watts.
Once you decide on a motor, you can post a link to it or its specifications along with information about how you want to control it (supply voltage, control interface, etc.) and I can let you know if any of our brushed DC motor drivers or motor controllers would be suitable.
- Patrick