Sources for electric motors

This page lists sources and doesn't delve in to motor specifications or comparisons too far.

RMP

http://www.robotcombat.com/store.html∞ The hands down widest range of motors for bots is the Robot Market Place (RMP).
It stocks motors for all weight classes, some of the most notable for smaller classes are:

Dewalt Drill motors & gearboxes
Great power to weight ratio, fairly efficient, widely used as drive & weapon motors. For drive applications, they are pretty useless without the Team Delta mounts.

Astroflight motors
A high power, efficient and light motor developed for electric planes. It works well for weapons and drive. Whyachi makes a very strong gearbox for it.

Mini EV motors
Very good value motors, although not as good as Dewalt motors. They are probably not strong enough for weapon drive

Mag motors
Larger and higher powered than the motors mentioned above, Mag motors are used in everything from featherweights to super heavyweights. Often referred to as the Rolls Royce of bot motors, with a price to match

The RMP also stocks motors for Ant and Beetleweight bots

Team Delta

http://www.teamdelta.com/index.htm∞
TD sells the Dewalt 18V drill motors and gearboxes and is the only source for professional mounts for this motor & gearbox combo. They also sell larger motors like the E-Tek and Bosch GPA.

NPC Robotics

http://www.npcrobotics.com∞ NPC sell motors and gearboxes mainly for larger bots. Their models are mostly based on wheelchair parts and are very popular in the middleweight class and above. They also stock the popular Black Max motor that is popular in Nar Karts and other electric vehicles. For smaller bots, they have the high quality but expensive Thingap motors.

Bane Bots

http://banebots.com/osc/index.php∞ This new source has a wide range of gear motors for the smaller bot classes at very attractive prices. Some of their larger units are identical the the Whyachi TWR15 motor.

Team Whyachi

http://www.teamwhyachi.com∞ Whyachi Make some of the best bot parts anywhere and sell motors to go with them. They stock Astroflight motors and the new TWR15 and TWR18 gearmotors. The TWA40 gearbox and Astroflight motor combo has been used in many champion bots, while the T-Box is a lower priced option.

Your local hardware / car parts/ Kmart store

You can usually find a discount Chinese cordless drill at these stores, which can be hacked into a very serviceable and cheap drive motor see …

E-Bay

Motors are often auctioned on Ebay. Be careful to get all the specs and be aware that if you blow the motor, you will probably never get an identical replacement .

Sources for Brushless aircraft motors:

Since brushless motors are usually intended for electric planes, they are common in R/C shops. This is a very small listing of what is out there:

Euro Models (Australia): http://www.euromodels.com.au/∞
AXI and MP Jet outrunner motors with Jeti controllers

Hobby Lobby (USA): http://www.hobby-lobby.com∞
AXI, Jeti, Actro and MP Jet motors with Jeti controllers.

Hstore (Australia): http://www.hstore.com.au∞
AXI motors with Phoenix, Jeti and Castle Creations controllers

Esprit Models (USA): http://www.espritmodel.com/∞
AXI, Hacker, and many other brands of motors, with Jeti, Castle Creations, Hacker and other brands of controllers

E Bay: There are many small R/C shops set up on E Bay and prices are usually very competitive.

Motors to avoid

Perm Motors

They look great and have fantastic specs, but these motors have an armature winding that can not take impacts likely to occur in combat bots. It would make a fine electric vehicle motor.

Drill motors with plastic endbells

If you are using cordless drills, try to get ones with metal endbells. The ones with plastic have been known to melt around the bearing area, seizing the motor and blowing the ESC in the process.