DC Motors!?

Hey, so I’ve been falling down the rabbit hole on YouTube watching all this stuff about mechanics and robotics, and I stumbled upon this thing called a DC motor—which seems to be used for pretty much everything. Right now, I’ve just got a couple of tiny Electric Motors lying around, but they’re pretty weak; I doubt they can handle more than 2 or 3V. I heard you can scavenge an Electric Motor out of old CD players or cassette decks, so I’m thinking about hunting some down to rip apart. Since I’m definitely going to break something along the way, does anyone actually know their stuff and can tell me what kind of voltage those DC motors in CD drives usually run at? I could really use some details because I'm serious about getting into this, but I want to stay safe—no messing around with 110V outlets, just sticking to batteries up to 9V or maybe 12V max. THANKS FOR THE HELP 😵

This is quite possibly the most straightforward way to grasp the concept of pulse-width modulation. It’s essentially the logic behind why you might see electrical tape applied haphazardly across a circuit board to manage spacing. Things become significantly more convoluted as you move forward, though there are certainly pre-assembled modules available if one prefers to avoid the headache.



Here we have an excellent demonstration regarding stepper motors, which offer an impressive level of precision for those specific applications.

As for those standard two-wire DC motors you find in basic hobby kits from places like RadioShack, you simply apply the appropriate voltage. They typically feature a built-in potentiometer for adjusting the RPM. I wouldn't suggest them for serious robotics due to their inherent lack of precision, but if you integrate limit switches to cut power at the extremities, they can serve a purpose.