Tamiya’s twin-motor gearbox consists of two independent motors and gearboxes in one compact housing, making it perfect for small robots. You can assemble the gearboxes to have a 58:1 or a 204:1 gear ratio.

The Tamiya 70097 twin-motor gearbox is a small (3-inch long) plastic gearbox. It contains two small DC motors that drive separate 3mm hexagonal output shafts. There are two ways to put the kit together: with a high-speed 58:1 gear ratio or with a slower 203:1 gear ratio. Either way, the motors provide plenty of power to drive any small robot.

The output shafts are 3 mm hexagonal axles that are 10 cm (about four inches) from tip to tip. The axles work with any of the Tamiya wheels we carry, giving you many options for your robot speed. The two low-voltage motors 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 . The Orangutan LV-168 robot controller, which incorporates these low-voltage motor drivers, would be a great control center for a robot using these motors. 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.

For motor specs, see the Mabuchi motor FA-130 (#18100) data sheet (58k).

Note: The twin-motor 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.