We have a forklift that flips 4 balls into the goals. It has 2 rubber band assists. The motor also has to hold the forklift down, pulling against the rubber bands.
We had to double up the shaft gear to keep it from stripping.
As we practice, the motor on the forklift seems to get weaker and it gets hot to the touch. Happens on a full battery too.
Is it possible to burn out motors? Do they die all at once, or just get weaker until they cool off?
Any suggestions for a solution to this problem?
Thanks!
We have had motors die all at once on us, but we have also had motors that seemed to get weaker (you could actually hear grinding noise from the motor).
As the season progresses, we have had more and more motors die from regular usage.
If you’re pushing the motors too hard, they will heat up. I can’t see for sure, but it looks like you are using a motor to ‘hold’ your forklift in place until you are ready to flip. If the motor is ‘fighting’ the rubber bands just to hold it in place, it will be continually running current through to get the torque. The longer it does this, the hotter it will get.
A ‘better’ solution would be to have some sort of latch, where the motor could wind up and latch into place. Once latched, it wouldn’t need to exert any extra power. You then just need a way to trigger the latch to get it to launch when the time is right.
Good luck!
Regards
Damien Kee