So i was just working on a robot bolting in a motor. i put both bolt in loosely then tightened up the first one and then began to tighten up the second when the place to screw into the motor snapped off the second bolt in port. I don’t really know why i wasn’t over tightening the motor really and it was properly placed on the plate that i was bolting it to. Has this ever happened to any of you? i guess the only good news here is that i will probobly order two new motors one to replace this and another to add to my collection.
it looks like the plastic or whatever the casing is made, of it feels kinda funny (not like plastic), had a weak spot right at the bottom of the mounting thing right where it broke. i wasn’t even holding the allen wrench in the torquing position (you know the long end out like a big lever) i still had it with the little end being used as the lever when this happened. i am pretty bummed but what can you do right? it’s too bad that now i am kinda stalled while i order and wait for shipping. i know i could get 2 day but i am not really going to toss my money at fast shipping i would rather wait a few more days and add a few little things to my order.
i don’t really want to glue it cause i don’t think the bond will be good enough that i can trust it. and i don’t think my local jiffy lube is trained in vex repair. the motor sheet of the inventors guide says 30 days return policy and i am past that. i really should have said something when i first got it but you know how it is you just wanna use your new stuff not send it back and wait another week. i guess that caught up with me this time.
The only time this happened to us was when somebody dropped a motor from about 5 feet up. I would consider what previous stresses that motor went through (on earlier robots, for example).
You could still strap this motor to some stuff, like put standoffs on it or use it for a light application. It could also be epoxied to a metal plate to secure the motor to the plate.
If you can’t resurrect the motor then pop off the case, and gut it. Save the gears, casing, and motor. The motor driver is the really cool part, use this to control external motors or high voltage/current devices.
i am going to keep the broken motor but i am not planning on using it for anything. my plan is that when something fries in another motor i will now have a donor motor to rip apart and with the parts i can the perform surgery on the other motor. i ordered two new motors along with some other small stuff just a while ago so i should be back in business pretty soon.
Lol. In my 3 years of using vex (three awesome years), I’ve never burned out a single motor! I think i’ve abused them pretty badly. It’s probably because i don’t do the competitions, though, so I never have to do something so stressful to the motors. My bots never really weigh more than 10 pounds, with steel metal. Dunno. Maybe I just take care of my stuff real well.
i really never seem to blow any motors either i use the gear ratio sheet that i posted here a while back to calculate the most efficient gear ratios for my bots and use two motors when in doubt. i always run motors at 50% torque for max efficiency and to reduce stress. this seems to be a fluke. like i said i was screwing in the motor with the allen wrench the long way (not the super tightening way the way with the short end being used as the lever arm) and the bolt in section of the motor popped off. I always take care of my stuff and i doubt that i will need to use the broken motor as a donor but it is still good to have.
