Motors - Wiper, Window, or Transfer Case?

I'm still in the planning stages of my project, and I have seen different motors used. Is one better than the other? I notice that:

Window Motors can go both ways, and you don't have to ground the cases and stuff, but are they strong enough?;

The Transfer Case Motors seem the most robust, and some have a little hex slot in them, so I could insert my gearing mechanism without the need for welding;

The Wiper Motors seem to be the most widely used, why is that?

I look forward to any input, and I plan on documenting my upcoming project in the forums!

Thanks!

Thanks! I found that Transfer case motors for $5 each at the local bone yard, and window lift motors for $4 each! They wanted $10 each for the Wiper Motors!

I like the look and size of the Window Motors...

Window motors that lift up your window in a car? If so, those will not have either the torque or speed you need for a sim. Transfer case motors from the gearbox? Could work, depending on the specs.

Just like Raceray said, wiper motors are used because they are cheap and you get the most performance out of them in terms of torque and speed. If you find a wiper motor with a wormgear reduction on it, you have a winner.

Thanks, I actually hacked apart a Window motor (Window Lift Motor), and it does have a wormgear!
But will it be enough? I'm not sure, it came off a Ford truck, so it's a big window.

And here is a shot of the internal wormgear setup

I'm hoping these will work, any thoughts? :yes:

How big are those? And what is the power rating on them? What is the weight you want to move around with them?

Generally, the weaker the motor, the slower it will move (if move at all). For realistic simulation you need a lot of speed, therefore a lot of torque.

Thanks for the response.

I have included pics of the Window Lift motor (lower) with the Wiper Motor (upper)


Both motor are about 19cm long overall.

And you can see on the inside, it is the same wormgear setup, but the big gear is larger on the wiper motor than it is on the window lift motor. How will that affect performance?


I will need the motors to move about 150 kg total. I would have no idea where to find the performance specs on them...

Thanks

The size of the big wheel affect the gear rotation. Big wheel - slower but stronger! My guess is that none of them can lift 150 kg vertical direction, so it depends on how you plan to construct your simulator. If you have a balanced rig like Thanos joyrider, I guess you can move 150 kg around its senter of gravity with this motors! Have a look at the simulators on this forum that uses wipermotors. There are many ways to do this!

Fred

I am planning on using a frex style, with the seat mounted on a ujoint. Do you think either of these will do the trick?

Have a look at these projects:
tommys-simulator-powered-by-wipermotors-t1456.html?hilit=tommys
christian-s-2dof-simulator-powered-by-wipermotors-t892.html. They use Wipermotors. Good luck!

For the kids of course Yeah, shure... :rofl:

That wormgear looks like plastic. Is it? The only way to tell if it will be fast and strong enough is to try it. We have no idea from the pictures.

yeah, the wormgears (large round ones) are plastic. They are on all the wiper motors too! Since I am still in the early stages of my project, is there a way to test them before I actually mount them?

Thanks!

I'm building the simulator 'for the kids' too!
....that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

I am using the wipermotor since many others have used it with sucsess! Have you tried to start them and hold them back to feel the torque?

Is there a better reason to have kids? (think not!!)

You can test your motors by connecting a 12V battery to them, or technically any DC voltage source. I would use something that you would be using for your simulator. By flipping the connectors you can reverse them and check if they have the same speed/torque in both directions.

If you put an arm on their shaft and an increasing weight at the end, you can measure their torque in either lb/in, lb/feet, kg/cm, kg/m or whatever is convenient. You can then compare these numbers with other motors.