Use Cheap Motors with LEGO

I started using stepper motors to power LEGO, but they were heavy and really over-kill for what I needed. So I decided to find a cheaper motor that can be used easily to make small LEGO vehicles.

Motors

The motors that I found are these small N20 geared motors. I won't post any links here, but you can easily find them on ebay/aliexpress/wish by searching for "N20 motor".

For this project I am using motors with a 10mm axle length. Also I am using a 6V motor with 300rpm.

Any slower than 300rpm would probably be a bit to slow to direct drive a wheel.

Remember to order some M1.6 bolts/screws when you order your motors. The local hardware store probably won't have these... M1.6 x 5mm bolts

Motor Mount

Next, I designed the motor mount using OpenSCAD - a free scripting CAD program.

The housing is in two parts - an enclosure for the motor:

And a face-plate to attach to LEGO beams:

The final part is an axle adapter to convert the motor's D axle to a LEGO cross axle:

I had these printed on 3DHubs.com in PLA printed at 100μm.

Assembly

Here is the assembly process:

Now for the creative part.. Making things!