Shared Motors
Make two motors do two jobs, with a power take-off or a differential, and see each job's speed and torque in each setting.
Inputs
Full forward is 100, full backward −100.
Results
Setting 1: job A and job B
—
Setting 2: job A and job B
—
Output 1 speed (motors the same way)
—rpm
Output 2 speed (motors opposite ways)
—rpm
Each output at best
—
Both motors’ torque, at one motor’s speed.
Throw the switch
The shared motors in the middle, job A on the left, job B on the right. Slide the switch across and watch where the power goes. Halfway is worth looking at: a real power take-off passes through a position where it is in neither, and a mechanism that is holding something up does not enjoy that.
How this is calculated
Power take-off. In each setting, a job gets the motors connected to it. Its top speed is one motor’s free speed times the gearing; its stall torque is all its motors’ torque divided by the gearing.
job speed = motor free speed × (driving ÷ driven) job torque = motors × motor stall torque ÷ (driving ÷ driven)Differential. Turning both motors the same way drives output 1; turning them opposite ways drives output 2. Any mix does some of each.
output 1 = r × (motor 1 + motor 2) ÷ 2 output 2 = r × (motor 1 − motor 2) ÷ 2With your numbers
What this doesn’t cover
Friction in the switch or the differential, backlash, and the load on each job. A job’s real speed under load is lower; the Torque & Stall Check tool shows how much.
Make a notebook page
Turns this calculation into a dated engineering notebook page: the setup, data, results, figures, working and sources, numbered and cited. You add the goal, the decision and the reflection in your own words, plus photos and sketches. Print it, paste it into Google Docs, or download a Word file or slides.
Save this run, and compare
Keeps what is on screen so you can change something and see both sides of the change. Saved in this browser only, never uploaded.
Sources & assumptions
Published: each cartridge’s free speed and the 100 RPM stall torque.Derived: the 200 and 600 RPM stall torques. The rule on sharing drive motors is from the 2026-27 game manual.
- VEX Robotics: V5 Smart Motor & Gear Cartridges (276-4840) — checked August 2026
- Purdue SIGBots Wiki: VEX Motors — checked August 2026
- V5RC Override Game Manual v1.1 (2026-27) — checked August 2026
Where this goes next
Explore further on the full mapWhere the answers on this page can be used, and which tools could have given you the numbers it asks for.
Comes after
A starting point. Nothing on the site needs to come first.
You are here
Shared Motors
a number carries across the next question it raises