The first in Tamiya’s “high efficiency” series, the planetary gearbox features two 4:1 and two 5:1 stages that can be combined in any way you like—you can even combine two kits to get really huge gear ratios. The output is always conveniently on the same axis as the motor shaft. Available gear ratios are 4:1, 5:1, 16:1, 20:1, 25:1, 80:1, 100:1, and 400:1. The low-voltage motors in the planetary gearbox run on 3-6 volts and draw up to a few amps, making them perfect candidates for the Pololu low-voltage dual serial motor controller and the DRV8833 motor driver carrier. Motor overheating can be caused by excessive stalling, even at very low voltages. We recommend that you use stall-detection sensors, or just watch your robot, to make sure that it doesn’t stall for more than a few seconds at a time. This gearbox has a 4 mm, round output shaft, which works with the wheels that are compatible with Tamiya 4 mm, round shafts. Our 3 mm universal mounting hub also fits on the threaded end of the shaft, although it is not specifically intended to work with this type of shaft (the hub’s set screw could damage the thread on the shaft). Note: The planetary gearbox is a kit; assembly is required. To use the kit in robotics projects, you need to connect the motors to your own robot controller.
