Slow turning system with motors and gears

[mervegrbz94]

Hi, I am gonna build a prototype with using motors. I want the motor to turn 360 degrees very slowly. I am gonna put a earth model at the top of it so the earth will turn. I made some research, I think I need to use gears small and big to slow it down. Can you give me an example how to put them together, I am new to VEX.

[calvc01]

Check out this Knowledge Base article:

Using VEX IQ Plastic Gears, Sprockets, and Pulleys

And if you want to go reeeeeeealllly slow, check out the M.A.D Gearbox STEM Lab in this link (scroll down)

IQ | VEX Education

[ReMiSyS]

You can just code the motor with VEX code and set the velocity extremely low

[muradmalik]

for gears, you would put the small gear on the motor axle and the big gear on the planet model

[teresajude]

A couple of questions:

• How slowly do you want it to turn? How long for a complete revolution?
• What VEX parts do you currently have available?

If you use conventional (spur) gears, you can slow the motor by a factor of up to 5 with each gear reduction stage (using a 12 tooth driving, or input gear and a 60 tooth driven, or output gear).

If you want to slow it WAY down and have access to a worm gear (found in the Gear Add-On Kit ), you can slow it down by a factor of up to 60 in a single stage. The worm gear looks like a funny screw, and will move the output gear by one tooth per revolution of the worm. The worm gear is the input, and the standard gear is the output. Unlike standard gears, worm gears don’t work backwards (they lock up).

I would also recommend programming the motor to turn at about 1/2 speed or so and gear things down the rest of the way. That way you aren’t working the motor at full speed, but you are still using gears to reduce the load on the motor.

Good luck!

[Noah10851B]

I don’t really want to type out the whole post again, so I’ll just link to something I wrote in the past:

Clawbot arm won't move up due to weight (I think)

The reason that changing the gear setup like what @jpearman said, is because of the: SCIENCE OF GEAR RATIOS Before we understand gear ratios, we need to understand: MECHANICAL ADVANTAGE So, what is mechanical advantage? Mechanical advantage is the trade-off between torque and speed. High torque = Low speed. And likewise: Low torque = High speed. The same principles are used when you use a jack to lift up your car for repairs, and also the same way the ancient Egyptians built the …

Remember: More torque is less speed, and vice-versa

Good luck with your project!!!

[Foster]

You might want to look at the instructions for the Hexbug Orbit Orbit Instructions | HEXBUG for ideas. You can make it so your Earth replaces the Sun and you mount your Moon on the arm to rotate around.

Good luck in building your model!