[65Ace]

The motor is simply too weak to get the job done.

I decided to try and automate my pirate ship's wheel this year and since the Kindy's deer motors appear to be a simple plug and play it seemed like a great fit for this project. So when they came back in stock this year I ordered one.

I wish I had known how weak the motor was before I bought it and how short the factory supplied armatures are. The motor comes with two armatures, one that's about an inch long and one that's a little longer than an inch and a half. When I attach the longer of the two armatures to the Kindy's motor and then to the swingarm which is attached to a bracket on the outer rim of my ship's wheel and then fabricated a bracket to hold the Kindy's motor to the post the wheel is mounted on, the Kindy's motor only turned the wheel back and forth less than 4 inches of total movement. Plus, it moves so slowly that it's hard to notice that the wheel is actually moving unless you're right on top of it.

In order to try and get the wheel to turn further (I was hoping for a minimum movement of 6 to 8 inches) I fabricated a longer armature, but when I re-assembled everything and plugged it in the little Kindy's motor simply can't move the wheel at all. Now admittedly my ship's wheel might be a little on the heavy side, but the motor still should have been able to do the job since the ship's wheel is fairly well balanced and turns freely.

Hopefully, my disappointing experience with the Kindy's motor will save someone else from a similar mistake.

 

[Scary Papa]

65Ace, I have used Kindy's reindeer motors a lot and for certain applications they have worked great for me. On one cemetery caretaker prop I made I have three of these motors. One turns his head from side to side, a second one moves his torso back and forth and a third one moves his arm up and down. I daisy chained the motors together by plugging the electric cord male plug from one into the electric cord female of the next (the ones I bought have both a male and a female connection). But you are right, they are not really a strong motor for heavy applications like animating a pirate ship wheel. For that and other heavier applications I use wiper motors.

I agree the short drive arm on the reindeer motors is a problem. I get around that by using a piece of small, lightweight aluminum channel cut to the length I want then fitted over the short plastic arm. I then attach the aluminum channel to the plastic drive arm that comes with the motor with JB Weld. This has worked really well for me. For a little more secure attachment in addition to the JB Weld in the past I have also drilled a small hole in the aluminum channel and through the plastic drive arm and used a small diameter screw to attach the aluminum channel to the plastic drive arm. This will also help keep the aluminum channel in place while the JB Weld dries (about 5 minutes if you use the JB Quick Weld. I always keep a small supply of these motors on hand.

Oh one afterthought. If you use the aluminum channel be sure to cut a notch in the channel where it covers the screw that holds the drive arm to the motor. Otherwise you will not be able to remove the drive arm in the future if you want to for any reason because you won't be able to get to the screw.

 

[Doc Doom]

Sorry it didn't work to your satisfaction but it sounds like you're asking for a lot more work than it was designed for . Increasing the arm length and weight even just a little can hugely impact the torque loading.

Couple of suggestions.

Lubricate the axel of the wheel or consider installing bearings.
Counter balance the wheel to reduce the loading
Put something on the wheel, such as a parrot, to emphasize the movement