Gear, Shaft, & DC Motor 1

[Cooliotouch]

I have a project I am working on that has a dc motor; when powered, it should turn a spur gear. the gear then moves two shafts that works like rack and pinion gear... My hopes were to have the gears retract the shafts simultaneously in opposite direction to work like a locking mechanism. My question: Is there any way for a gear or dc motor to lock itself; for instance, in this project the motor is powered, the gears turn and move the shafts inward to an "open position", however id like the motor to cease power and have the shafts remain in an "open position" until programmed to bounce back via a spring to a "closed position". i attached a illustration to give a better understanding. Thanks!

 

[Compositepro]

get rid of the springs and your problem is solved.

 

[BrianE22]

You can get motors with brakes attached. Turn off the power and the brakes lock the shaft. Gearwise, if you used worm gearing you could select a lead angle for the worm that would be self-locking.

 

[drawoh]

Cooliotouch,

If you leave the motor powered, you effectively have a solenoid, with all the advantages and disadvantages of a solenoid.

You can provide torque through a high ratio worm gear, and you can short the motor terminals.

--
JHG

 

[TheTick]

Just have enough friction to keep things in place when idle.