Uploaded May 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
In this video, I show a different approach to accurately position things with the N20 miniature geared motor. Originally, these geared motors come with a magnetic encoder installed on the motor’s shaft, but based on my experience so far, they are not too accurate for positioning. This is mainly due to the fact that there is a wonky gearbox between the actual driven shaft and the motor. This gearbox suffers from backlash which messes up the positioning. It is not super noticeable when the motor drives a lead screw, but it becomes very bad when circular motion is needed, for example when the shaft of the gearbox should position a wheel on a 0-360° coordinate system.
Join my channel membership: youtube.com/channel/UCKp1MzuAceJnDqAvsZl_46g/join
Affiliate links:
N20 miniature geared motor: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DE9zEPx
TB6612PWM DC motor driver: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A3hdeI
Arduino Nano: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdQxLLR
Rotary encoder module: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9Ak6WS
Breadboard: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DloYYXN
AS5600 encoder: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdslBBN
Blog article: https://curiousscientist.tech/blog/n20-miniature-geared-motor-with-as5600-encoder
Relevant parts: https://curiousscientist.tech/tools
In this video, I show a different approach to accurately position things with the N20 miniature geared motor. Originally, these geared motors come with a magnetic encoder installed on the motor’s shaft, but based on my experience so far, they are not too accurate for positioning. This is mainly due to the fact that there is a wonky gearbox between the actual driven shaft and the motor. This gearbox suffers from backlash which messes up the positioning. It is not super noticeable when the motor drives a lead screw, but it becomes very bad when circular motion is needed, for example when the shaft of the gearbox should position a wheel on a 0-360° coordinate system.
Join my channel membership: youtube.com/channel/UCKp1MzuAceJnDqAvsZl_46g/join
Affiliate links:
N20 miniature geared motor: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DE9zEPx
TB6612PWM DC motor driver: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A3hdeI
Arduino Nano: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdQxLLR
Rotary encoder module: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9Ak6WS
Breadboard: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DloYYXN
AS5600 encoder: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdslBBN
Blog article: https://curiousscientist.tech/blog/n20-miniature-geared-motor-with-as5600-encoder
Relevant parts: https://curiousscientist.tech/tools
