Source for a variety of small motors and gears?

l o wrote:

    Small Parts, Inc. and Berg are the usual sources.  There are
various surplus and hobbyist sources, but those two have full lines
of parts.  The parts will cost far more than they would in production;
you'll have to re-engineer for volume production, which means getting
up to speed on how toys are really made.

                    John Nagle

I would add SDP/SI to the list:

   <http://wwww.sdp-si.com/>

-Wayne

John Nagle wrote:

Thank you Wayne and John for those links.  The challenge with places
like this is that they have too much to choose from.  I had hoped to
choose common sizes, so that if there were to be a production run, the
choices I make would be cost effective.  Perhaps I should just let
cost drive my decision on the prototype parts.  A cheap gear is
probably a commodity... hmm, or perhaps an odd size they are trying to
get rid of!  As I think more about it, to a toy maker who is going to
make 100,000 of something, ALL sizes are commodity sizes.

Part of what took me down this road is that I became aware of how
accessible rapid prototyping is nowadays.  Some of the materials are
strong enough to be functional as they are.  Shapeways.com certainly
has a nice web interface for their work, but I am sure there are a
zillion other rapid prototyping service bureaus. The bottom line is
that prototyping a plastic toy or robot is within anyone's reach.  No
need to do injection molding for a prototype.

Being unemployed (the 2nd time in as many years) is actually the main
reason I am doing this.  I have to design something!

Oh, by the way, the link for Stock Drives that you gave had an extra
w.  It should read, http://www.sdp-si.com

Joe Dunfee

l o wrote:

When you make 100K of something, custom molds are cost effective.
For a gear box, the spur reduction gears (my terminolgy) where
one large gear has a smaller gear on the same shaft are typically
molded together.


I feel your pain trying to navigate the sdp-si web site.  I find it
particularly frustrating that you have to click on each part
number to get the price.

I will also point out the Lego gear system.  It is lacks a large range
of sizes, but it is still pretty flexible.

-Wayne

l o wrote:

     Welcome to real engineering.

     Incidentally, if you want to understand gears properly, take the
Boston Gear "Gearology" course:

    http://www.bostongear.com/training/gearology.asp

     Making gears with a stereolithography machine is now possible,
and you can even get ones in plastics that will hold together.
But it is not yet cost-effective.

                    John Nagle

Joe,

Have you looked a the low cost plastic gearboxes from Pololu, MUTR and
many other hobby suppliers?

They often stock items similar to the BO range from these guys:-

     http://www.vigorprecision.com.hk/

if your looking for battery less toys look here:-

     http://www.vigortoy.com/

I've found them helpful when enquiring about motors etc.

best regards,
Colin

--
www.minisumo.org.uk