Description

Overview

These tiny brushed DC gearmotors are available in a wide range of gear ratios—from 5:1 up to 1000:1—and with five different motors: high-power 6 V and 12 V motors with long-life carbon brushes (HPCB), and high-power (HP), medium power (MP), and low power (LP) 6 V motors with shorter-life precious metal brushes. The 6 V and 12 V HPCB motors offer the same performance at their respective nominal voltages, just with the 12 V motor drawing half the current of the 6 V motor. The 6 V HPCB and 6 V HP motors are identical except for their brushes, which only affect the lifetime of the motor.

The HPCB versions (shown on the left in the picture below) can be differentiated from versions with precious metal brushes (shown on the right) by their copper-colored terminals. Note that the HPCB terminals are 0.5 mm wider than those on the other micro metal gearmotor versions (2 mm vs. 1.5 mm), and they are about 1 mm closer together (6 mm vs. 7 mm).

With the exception of the 1000:1 gear ratio versions, all of the micro metal gearmotors have the same physical dimensions, so one version can be easily swapped for another if your design requirements change.

Please see the micro metal gearmotor datasheet (2MB pdf) for more information, including detailed performance graphs for each micro metal gearmotor version. You can also use our dynamically sortable micro metal gearmotor comparison table to search for the gearmotor that offers the best combination of speed, torque, and current draw for your particular application.

Note: Stalling or overloading gearmotors can greatly decrease their lifetimes and even result in immediate damage. The recommended upper limit for instantaneous torque is 2.5 kg-cm (35 oz-in) for the 380:1 and 1000:1 gearboxes, and 2 kg-cm (25 oz-in) for all the other gear ratios; we strongly advise keeping applied loads well under this limit. Stalls can also result in rapid (potentially on the order of seconds) thermal damage to the motor windings and brushes, especially for the versions that use high-power (HP and HPCB) motors; a general recommendation for brushed DC motor operation is 25% or less of the stall current.

In general, these kinds of motors can run at voltages above and below their nominal voltages; lower voltages might not be practical, and higher voltages could start negatively affecting the life of the motor.

Details for item #3077

Dimensions of versions with precious metal brushes (LP, MP, and HP)

These diagrams are also available as a downloadable PDF (262k pdf).

Motor Accessories

• Wheels and hubs: The micro metal gearmotor’s output shaft matches our assortment of Pololu wheels and the Solarbotics RW2i rubber wheel. You can also use our Pololu universal mounting hubs to mount custom wheels and mechanism to the micro metal gearmotor’s output shaft, and you can use our 12mm hex wheel adapter to use this motor with many common hobby RC wheels.

• Mounting brackets: Our mounting bracket (also available in white) and extended mounting bracket are specifically designed to securely mount the gearmotor while enclosing the exposed gears. We recommend the extended mounting bracket for wheels with recessed hubs, such as the Pololu wheel 42×19mm. Our micro metal gearmotors will also work with our 15.5D mm metal gearmotor bracket pair.

• Quadrature encoders: We offer several quadrature encoders that work with our micro metal gearmotors.

Note: The HPCB versions of our micro metal gearmotors are not compatible with our #2590 and #2591 optical encoders or our older #2598 magnetic encoders (the terminals are too wide to fit through the corresponding holes in the encoder boards). However, they are compatible with our newer #3081, #4760, and #4761 magnetic encoders.

• Motor controllers and drivers: We have a number of motor controllers, motor drivers, and robot controllers that make it easy to drive these micro metal gearmotors. For the 6 V micro metal gearmotors, consider the DRV8838 single-channel motor driver carrier, the DRV8833 dual motor driver carrier, and DRV8835 dual motor driver carrier (or DRV8835 shield for Arduino). For the 12 V micro metal gearmotors, consider the MAX14870 single-channel motor driver carrier, DRV8801 single-channel motor driver carrier, and A4990 dual motor driver carrier (or A4990 shield for Arduino).

• Current sensors: We have an assortment of Hall effect-based current sensors to choose from for those who need to monitor motor current:

Selecting the Right Gearmotor

File downloads

• Datasheet for Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors (2MB pdf)

• Dimension diagrams of Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors (262k pdf)

• 3D model of a Micro Metal Gearmotor with Extended Motor Shaft and a #1086 bracket (4MB step)

  3D model of a Micro Metal Gearmotor with Extended Motor Shaft and a #1086 bracket (or #989 bracket, which is just a black version of the #1086).

• 3D model of a Micro Metal Gearmotor and a #1086 bracket (4MB step)

  3D model of a Micro Metal Gearmotor and a #1086 bracket (or #989 bracket, which is just a black version of the #1086).

• 3D model of Micro Metal Gearmotors (single-shaft, precious metal brushes, not 1000:1) (11MB step)

  3D model of low-power, medium-power, high-power Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors. This diagram does not apply to the HPCB versions, dual-shaft versions, or 1000:1 gear ratios.

• 3D model of Micro Metal Gearmotors with extended motor shafts (precious metal brushes, not 1000:1) (11MB step)

  3D model of low-power, medium-power, high-power Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors with extended motor shafts. This diagram does not apply to the HPCB versions, single-shaft versions, or 1000:1 gear ratios.

• 3D model of 1000:1 Micro Metal Gearmotors (single-shaft, precious metal brushes) (14MB step)

  3D model of Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors with 1000:1 gearboxes. This diagram does not apply to the HPCB versions, dual-shaft versions, or other gear ratios.

• 3D model of 1000:1 Micro Metal Gearmotors with extended motor shafts (precious metal brushes) (14MB step)

  3D model of Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors with 1000:1 gearboxes and extended motor shafts. This diagram does not apply to the HPCB versions, single-shaft versions, or other gear ratios.

• 3D model of HPCB Micro Metal Gearmotors (single-shaft, carbon brushes, not 1000:1) (11MB step)

  3D model of high-power carbon brush (HPCB) Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors. This diagram does not apply to precious metal brush (i.e. non-HPCB) versions, dual-shaft versions, or 1000:1 gear ratios.

• 3D model of HPCB Micro Metal Gearmotors with extended motor shafts (carbon brushes, not 1000:1) (11MB step)

  3D model of high-power carbon brush (HPCB) Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors. This diagram does not apply to precious metal brush (i.e. non-HPCB) versions, single-shaft versions, or 1000:1 gear ratios.

• 3D model of 1000:1 HPCB Micro Metal Gearmotors (single-shaft, carbon brushes) (14MB step)

  3D model of high-power carbon brush (HPCB) Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors with 1000:1 gearboxes. This diagram does not apply to precious metal brush (i.e. non-HPCB) versions, dual-shaft versions, or other gear ratios.

• 3D model of 1000:1 HPCB Micro Metal Gearmotors with extended motor shafts (carbon brushes) (14MB step)

  3D model of high-power carbon brush (HPCB) Pololu Micro Metal Gearmotors with 1000:1 gearboxes and extended motor shafts. This diagram does not apply to precious metal brush (i.e. non-HPCB) versions, single-shaft versions, or other gear ratios.