Skip to content

Motor

Turns electricity back into rotation. It's a Dynamo run backwards: the same block, the same two windings and the same figures.

Crafting

Put a Dynamo in a crafting grid on its own. A Motor on its own turns back into a Dynamo.

Placing

Place it against the end of the shaft it should drive. That face is its output. Any other face connects to cable.

Sneak-right-click with an empty hand to switch between the coarse and fine winding.

How it behaves

Two rules, both from the winding's volts-per-RPM figure (0.094 coarse, 0.375 fine):

  • Speed comes from voltage. The motor drives its shaft toward volts ÷ volts-per-RPM, its no-load speed. On 1.5 V a coarse motor heads for 16 RPM and a fine one for 4 RPM. On 6 V, 64 and 16.
  • Force comes from current. Every amp it's given pushes with the same figure in Su.

It asks for current in proportion to how far below its no-load speed it's running:

  • An idle motor, already at speed, draws almost nothing.
  • A loaded motor slows down, draws more, and settles where its current carries the load.
  • An under-powered motor runs slow. It never stalls outright from low voltage.

At most it pushes 0.75 Su, on either winding: its rated amps (8 coarse, 2 fine) times the winding figure. That's a very light load. A Controller alone draws 2 Su.

Two motors on one shaft share the load, and a motor can share a shaft with a belt.

Converting voltage

A motor turning a dynamo on the other winding is a motor-generator set, the way to change voltage in Feedback:

  • Fine motor → coarse dynamo: MV in, LV out (fewer volts, more amps).
  • Coarse motor → fine dynamo: LV in, MV out.

The only loss is the shaft's friction. See Electricity.

Notes

  • More voltage than it's built for only makes it spin faster. Nothing wears it. If that's a problem for what it drives, put an Overspeed Trip on the shaft.
  • It only drives in one direction.