stepper and servo motor life

bobroan

I am building a clock which will use stepper and servo motors.· I need those motors to run reliably all the time for a few years.

Will the servo and stepper motor that parallax sells do that?· If not, does anyone have any suggestions where I can find motors that will?

thanks

bob

LoopyByteloose

I think it is a bit hard to answer your question.
Motors tend to be rated by 'duty-cycle'. The hardest working motors are on 24/7 and it goes down from there.

So first you have to consider how much time your motor will actually be running.

Then there is the question of environment.
If the motor is in a very clean environment and occasionally lubricated [noparse][[/noparse]after cleaning of course], if will last longer that being in a dirty or corrosive environment.

And of course there is the question of staying within specs of even 'de-rating' a motor to increase its life.
The lower the voltage and the less heat produces, the longer it will last.

Finally, the quality of the manufacture is always important. Usually the good manufacture will prove better quality, but expect a higher price for such motors. I suggest you look at military surplus or military spec motors to get such quality.

If you mean 'hobby servos' when you say servos, I would have to say that they are meant for occasional use over a period of years. But some of the manufactures are now providing metal gears and real bearings to make them more adaptible to heavy duty cycles.

Stepper motors are quite interesting in that they really eliminate both brushes and gears. These are weak links in many motor constructions. I suspect that it would be easier for you to get longevity from the stepper motors by the nature of their design.

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"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much.' - Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

······································································ Warm regards,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan

bobroan

Kramer,

thanks for all that information.

I have noticed that stepper motors use various voltages.· Are you saying that those that run at lower voltages will last longer, all other things being "equal?"

bob