Does this mean I can use my washing machine motor? Oh, shoot, that’s AC…

Posted at 9:37 am on Jul 16th, 2008 by Doug Parker

Maybe not a washing machine motor but you could use the starter motor out of a car.. I would suspect the starter out of some big old chevy would have way more power than a washing machine motor anyway.

Posted at 9:57 am on Jul 16th, 2008 by twistedsymphony

Heh, those starter motors are bad-ass. Back in highschool, we had to make a mini go-kart type thing to navigate a short obstacle course for a competition. We mounted a starter motor on a piece of plywood, and hinged it to the frame so we could “clutch” the motor directly on the drive belt. The thing could zip around like crazy, and it only took a couple hours to put together.

It was really hacky, but hey, look where I’m posting =-)

Posted at 10:48 am on Jul 16th, 2008 by James

Cool. Now, where’s that phone number for the Tesla parts line…..I’ll bet they’ve got some good ‘lectric motors around…

Posted at 11:00 am on Jul 16th, 2008 by Andrew Pollack

Twisted: Yeah, but it’s not designed for continuous use.

Now, the motors in a powerwheels… Yeah. Those are some beefy motors. And rated for continuous use. :P

Posted at 11:45 am on Jul 16th, 2008 by Alexander

I hate to be a naysayer but big DC motors are not cheap. especially ones in the 8hp range (a few hundred bucks at least.) an automotive starter motor would be cheap but they are easy to burn out if you run them for to long. also the Tesla roadster uses a 3 phase ac motor why do you think it’s named after Tesla? he hated DC motors (and Edison.) Tesla invented the AC induction motor which is still the most efficient form of electric motor. these things aside I think this is still awesome. it makes small to mid sized servos much more affordable. I might just buy one of these.

Posted at 12:25 pm on Jul 16th, 2008 by steve

This is new?
I thought that using a separate encoder and motor was common practice my now?
This is a good price break compared to commercial encoders, but I thought the general concept had been in use for quite a while.
At any rate, open source + cheap kit still makes for a good post :)

Posted at 1:05 pm on Jul 16th, 2008 by ridefst

I foresee many cordless drill servos.

Posted at 1:11 pm on Jul 16th, 2008 by Jasper

Treadmills have powerful DC motors. You can get used ones at yard sales for cheap (haven’t bought any but my parents have sold 2 old ones that the motors were starting to go bad on, though still worked, maybe would need new bearings or oil or something).

Posted at 1:23 pm on Jul 16th, 2008 by CalcProgrammer1

now if only all my motors werent ac…

Posted at 5:04 pm on Jul 16th, 2008 by ritsuki

steve: Yeah. 8+ hp motors are bloody expensive, but ever see how much an 8hp servo would cost? Are they even avilable?
If you hooked the right AC controller board up, you should be able to use this to control AC motors (probably not worth it…)

Posted at 5:32 pm on Jul 16th, 2008 by anthony

An actual servo versus a simple DC motor with a rotary encoder attached are two VERY different things.
Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a neat and very useful device, and for many things we would use this for either one may work interchangeably to some degree. To say they are the same thing however, or that they can DO the same tasks is overstating things by more than a little bit.
BTW, for cheap powerful DC motors, including treadmill motors, try http://www.surpluscenter.com, they always have some great random crap.

Posted at 5:57 pm on Jul 16th, 2008 by Eric

Wheel chair motor servo’s anyone?

Posted at 6:33 pm on Jul 16th, 2008 by Wolf

wolf has the right idea.

turn a _gear_motor_ into a servo.

awesome

Posted at 12:56 am on Jul 17th, 2008 by strider_mt2k

Oooh. gear motor servo. Me likey very much. You win.

Posted at 5:23 am on Jul 17th, 2008 by Eric

>Now, the motors in a powerwheels

If you keep your eyes open when driving around you will probably see a dead one on curb. a quick craigs search shows a complete working one for $25

Posted at 9:49 am on Jul 17th, 2008 by miked

Consider for a moment that your new powerful servo could also be used to run the steering of one of those powerwheels vehicles as well!

Person weight translates wonderfully into payload weight on stuff like this.
I’ve got my eye on a scooter like an older or disabled person would use right now for that very reason.

My initial experiments with building my own wheeled rov included using a powerful gear motor for the steering of a two-seater barbie jeep. (painted primer grey of course) pink wasn’t gonna cut it.

Mine wasn’t as refined as to use any feedback, I just built everything up to withstand jamming all the way towards one side or the other and kinda just winged it with the RC control to steer it, but it worked.

Oddly what made me give up on it as a platform wasn’t the steering, but the lack of traction with those stupid plastic wheels, even when modified.

I wanted my rov to go into the woods and such, which a differentially steered vehicle is much better suited for anyway.

For on the street, or on grass a powerwheels vehicle would probably be ideal, and as stated would be a VERY inexpensive proposition.

Posted at 10:23 am on Jul 17th, 2008 by strider_mt2k