Shaft encoders for Zumo motors?

Hello – I’m interested in using magnetic shaft encoders with the Zumo motors (I plan to purchase the dual-shaft micro-metal motors).

I’d like to know if the encoders will fit in the Zumo chassis, and whether to get the top connector or side connector encoders.

Thanks for any word on this.

Hello.

Just to clarify, are you planning to use the Zumo Chassis Kit with your own electronics? Or are you planning to use one of our more complete Zumo Robots, like the Zumo 32U4 or the Zumo Robot for Arduino?

- Patrick

Thanks for your reply.

I want to use just the chassis kit with my own electronics and the #3075 100:1 extended shaft motors. I’m hoping the magnetic encoders fit in the chassis, and need to know whether to get the top connected or side connected encoders.

Thanks for the clarification. Any of our magnetic encoders for Micro Metal Gearmotor will fit in the Zumo chassis. However, if you want to use the included acrylic mounting plate that typically holds the motors down, that would need to be modified. The area boxed in red would interfere with the top-entry and side-entry connectors, so you would need to cut that off.

- Patrick

OK, thanks again.

So it doesn’t matter whether I get the side connector encoder or the top connector encoder?
I’m not clear where the connector winds up, in either case – I’d assume the top connector would stick up where that red rectangle is in your figure above.

Both of those encoder boards will stick up above the chassis. If you go with the encoder boards with side-entry connectors, then the connectors will face up. If you use the encoder boards with top-entry connectors, the connectors will face each other towards the middle of the chassis. I suspect the side-entry connector versions will generally be more convenient to plug into, but the top-entry connectors will stick up above the chassis a little less (about 1.4 mm less).

In case it helps, we have 3D CAD models for all of these product available on their product pages under the “Resources” tab, so you could download those and use them to model your setup.

- Patrick

Great, thanks very much for the word on this.