Encoder Wheels

Support Product suggestions
1

You sell motors with back-shafts but no encoder wheels to go on them! XD

Make sure they work with your “Encoder for Pololu Wheel 42x19mm” or make a new board to work with them.

I need them bad for my current robot. Would buy them in a heartbeat.

2

Hello.

Encoder wheels (and whole encoder solutions) are in the works for those motors, but it will still probably be at least a few months. Our thinking is that we have to get the motors with extended shafts, and once we have that part of the solution, we might as well offer it so that you at least have the option of making the rest of the system yourself.

- Jan

3

But you already have them back-shafts…

4

I don’t understand what you’re saying. (I’m saying that to offer a full encoder solution, we need several components, including motors with the shafts out the back. Since we already have that motor part solved, we are selling them since some customers can make their own encoders. We’re still going to work on our encoder solution.)

- Jan

5

Yes, you sell motors with back-shafts. You also sell the encoder wheel reader. All you don’t sell is the encoder-wheel. THAT is what I am saying you need to sell, the encoder-wheel. Sell an encoder-wheel that fits on those back-shafts and you are selling a complete solution. I have the motors you sell, I have the reader, all I need is the encoder-wheel and I would have have it.

I guess I have to get you to laser-cut me some :stuck_out_tongue:

6

I think I understand better. Unfortunately, I do not think it would be practical to make an encoder wheel for the micro motors that would work with the sensor for the 42x19mm wheels. The two solutions we are working on right now would be a small PCB that would fit on the back of the motor (for standalone use) with reflective sensors and a interrupter-based solution for when the PCB is parallel to the motor shaft (like on the 3pi robot).

- Jan

7

“I do not think it would be practical to make an encoder wheel”

Why? I already have the robot built. All I need is the encoder-wheel. You just cut a slot for the wheel reader and a slot for the wheel, both behind the motor, and you are done. I don’t see an issue here.

8

Maybe I’m still not following what you’re trying to do, but in a general, the sensors on that particular board are quite far apart, so they would require a big wheel to work, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a small motor. Also, the encoder board is not made for particularly fast frequencies, which could limit useful operating range if you try to use it directly on the motor shaft instead of on the gearbox output.

I’m not saying it’s impossible for you to make something work but it’s like using a crayon to sign some document: it’s really far from ideal, and it should not be that much more effort to get a much better solution.

- Jan

9

Oh, well if they can’t handle the speed then it is a no-go. Darn. But I don’t see why they would need a big encoder-wheel when the one they use now is small.

Thanks