Mounting Servos and Black Gear Motors in Botball Robots

Basic Mounting Frame Servos may have a piece of LEGO glued to each side However, in many cases you can use a LEGO frame like this to securely mount a servo or black gear motor without using any glue Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

Some LEGO pieces need to be modified You need to file down the knobs of the LEGO 1x2 plate so that the servo body will fit in the frame Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

The Servo fits snugly in frame Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

Mounting a 24T Gear You can use the accessories that come with the servos to securely mount a 24 tooth gear the servo or black gear motor Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

Mounting a 40T gear The 40 tooth gear can be screwed onto one of the servo horns for a reliable mount. Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

Gear motor with 24T gear in the Frame Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

1:1 Gear Ratio This arrangement will drive an axle at the same speed as the motor or servo, and with the same torque. Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

3:2 Gear Ratio This arrangement (24 tooth gear on motor and 16 tooth on axle) will drive the axle 1.5 times faster than the motor (but with only 2/3 of the torque) Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

Speeding things up By mounting a 40 tooth gear on the servo or gear motor, and a 16 tooth gear on an axle, the axle will turn 2.5 times faster than the motor (but with 2.5 time LESS torque) Picture courtesy of Terry Grant

Additional Examples You can see a robot that uses one of these mounts to hold a servo, used to steer the robot at: http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/projects/highschoolrobotics/robot_assembly_description_for_2000.html Example code for using a servo to steer this robot can be found in activity #4 at: http://www.kipr.org/curriculum/motors.html#anchor4272921