NeveRest AM-2964 Pinion

[FTC11242]

We purchased 10 NeveRest AM-2964 motors for the 16/17 season. Ours are directly attached to a basic 4-inch tire.

Recently, one of motors would only drive forward. The axle would nearly freely spin in reverse. When we broke-down the motor, we discovered that the gears in the 40:1 gearbox were fine and the motor itself appears to be fine. The issue appears to be that the pinion gear has separated and won't stay mounted to the motor axle.

We thought it was an isolated failure so we simply replaced the motor and at the same time swapped out the other motor so we could keep track of drive hours on the motors. The new motor ran fine, but the other motor that was swapped-out suffered the same pinion gear failure after only 5 minutes of drive.

Image of Motor and Pinion - http://funmultiplies.com/wp-content/...16_1156321.jpg

As you can see, the pinion gear is fully in-tact, it just won't stay attached to the motor axle. We're kicking several ideas around on how to resolve the issue, but I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this and how was it resolved.

[Philbot]

We purchased 10 NeveRest AM-2964 motors for the 16/17 season. Ours are directly attached to a basic 4-inch tire.

Recently, one of motors would only drive forward. The axle would nearly freely spin in reverse. When we broke-down the motor, we discovered that the gears in the 40:1 gearbox were fine and the motor itself appears to be fine. The issue appears to be that the pinion gear has separated and won't stay mounted to the motor axle.

We thought it was an isolated failure so we simply replaced the motor and at the same time swapped out the other motor so we could keep track of drive hours on the motors. The new motor ran fine, but the other motor that was swapped-out suffered the same pinion gear failure after only 5 minutes of drive.

Image of Motor and Pinion - http://funmultiplies.com/wp-content/...16_1156321.jpg

As you can see, the pinion gear is fully in-tact, it just won't stay attached to the motor axle. We're kicking several ideas around on how to resolve the issue, but I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this and how was it resolved.

I've not encountered this before. It usually takes quite a bit of force to remove these.

Methods to keep attached:

Regular JB Weld has remarkable strength , and works well with metals.

also

Red Locktight is pretty rugged if the fit is snug, but give it a full day to set up.

Also,

[R2D2]

We purchased 10 NeveRest AM-2964 motors for the 16/17 season. Ours are directly attached to a basic 4-inch tire.

Recently, one of motors would only drive forward. The axle would nearly freely spin in reverse. When we broke-down the motor, we discovered that the gears in the 40:1 gearbox were fine and the motor itself appears to be fine. The issue appears to be that the pinion gear has separated and won't stay mounted to the motor axle.

We thought it was an isolated failure so we simply replaced the motor and at the same time swapped out the other motor so we could keep track of drive hours on the motors. The new motor ran fine, but the other motor that was swapped-out suffered the same pinion gear failure after only 5 minutes of drive.

Image of Motor and Pinion - http://funmultiplies.com/wp-content/...16_1156321.jpg

As you can see, the pinion gear is fully in-tact, it just won't stay attached to the motor axle. We're kicking several ideas around on how to resolve the issue, but I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this and how was it resolved.

I agree with Philbot, but send an email to Andymark as well on this.

As a side note, usually its a good idea to design your drive-train to not have the wheels DIRECTLY driven from the motor shaft. Robot interaction and shocks to the motor can lower the life expectancy of a motor. Designing a geared, chain, or belted option can still give you a 1:1 ratio, while protecting the motor.