Circular to Linear Task

[Primate]

Could a marble going down a track and then looping once and then into a straight line count?

While a marble traversing a loop is circular motion, I'm not sure if that circular motion is actually being converted into linear motion. Don't risk it.

[lonestar]

Would a fan convert circular to linear motion?
I'm just curious; I already have a good circular-to-linear task implemented, and I already have a fan for the moving air task.

[paronomasia]

Any ideas on how to reduce rpm without using gear ratios? Rubber bands on wheels is the best (bleh) I've thought of.

[Primate]

Any ideas on how to reduce rpm without using gear ratios? Rubber bands on wheels is the best (bleh) I've thought of.

Use bigger wheels? Or if you're using a motor, just lower the voltage.

[lonestar]

Any ideas on how to reduce rpm without using gear ratios? Rubber bands on wheels is the best (bleh) I've thought of.

I remember last year I was trying to get a motor winding a string to turn as slow as possible. It was the moving object for 30(?) seconds task. I ended up having the motor's string wrap around a separate, larger wheel. The motor turned the wheel and another string was wrapped around the axle of the wheel at the center, and that string pulled the object. I also had a couple resistors attached to the motor circuit, but you have to be careful not to use too many or you might get a nice and slow motor but it may not run every time.

[Xenarian]

I'm just using an electric (non-geared!) motor to wind up some string and raise a mass to hit a switch. That works, I guess. I'm not using any screws or gears, just plain old electric potential.

[yousmellchinese123]

Don't Motors have gears inside of them, which would make motors unusable for this task?

Also, did you guys interpret the rules as converting the circular to linear motion of the same object?

[Primate]

Don't Motors have gears inside of them, which would make motors unusable for this task?

Also, did you guys interpret the rules as converting the circular to linear motion of the same object?

As far as I know, most standard brushed DC motors contain no internal gearing. (Take a look at this picture.) You'll find that most geared motors have an external gearbox, which is pretty obvious.

And no, I think converting one object's circular motion to another object's linear motion is perfectly valid.

[yousmellchinese123]

Don't Motors have gears inside of them, which would make motors unusable for this task?

Also, did you guys interpret the rules as converting the circular to linear motion of the same object?

As far as I know, most standard brushed DC motors contain no internal gearing. (Take a look at this picture.) You'll find that most geared motors have an external gearbox, which is pretty obvious.

And no, I think converting one object's circular motion to another object's linear motion is perfectly valid.

That just made this task easier for me (:
Thanks for all the clarifications!

[Dark Sabre]

As far as I know, most standard brushed DC motors contain no internal gearing. (Take a look at this picture.) You'll find that most geared motors have an external gearbox, which is pretty obvious.

Yeah, plenty of little DC motors have no gearing. Those that do are not always as obvious as that though.

This is a pretty standard gearhead motor:

The gears are not visible, as they are housed in the front section.

It can be even harder to tell if the whole motor is enclosed.
For example, this Lego motor is ungeared:

But this Lego motor is geared:


If there is significant gearing you can tell simply by the fact that the motor is super slow. That top Lego motor spins at 4100 RPM. The bottom one spins at 340 RPM.

Even if you can't see whether there are gears or not, you should be able to tell by how fast it spins or how easy it is to turn the axle. If there are cooling vents in the back, you can also compare how many times you turn the axle to how many times the rotor spins.