"Left" and "right" DC motors?

[Zellenny]

Hello, i have just started learning robotics and I'm allready stuck. Since i live in a place that has only 1 store with DC motors (no servos), and i can't buy stuff on line i need your help.

These are the motors I'm looking at (the link will shrink your browser window, sorry about that):

http://www.chipoteka.hr/www_new/modules/moduli/shop/product.php?sifra=8071100551

http://www.chipoteka.hr/www_new/modules/moduli/shop/product.php?sifra=8071100511

Now, the first items description says "MOTOR 12 V LEFT 2400 rpm", and the second one "MOTOR 9V RIGHT 2400rpm".

This is where I'm stuck. Reading THIS article i learned that "DC motors are non-polarized - meaning that you can reverse voltage without any bad things happening" and that "if you want to control which direction the motor spins, you reverse the wires".

So why would it say that the motor is "left" or "right" if i can just reverse the wires? Or am i looking at the wrong motors?

It may seem as a dumb question, but i would really appreciate if you could help me since I'm just getting started. Thanks in advance!

[random robots]

i think it means they're designed to run on either the right or left side of a robot by running either clockwise or counter clockwise.

Patrick

[blackbeard]

some motors will run faster in one direction then another. this is common in drill motors especially and whithout proper gearing you will veer off to the side when you go forward or reverse. a right or left motor means that it can move the same speed as it's counterpart in a given direction. now your going to run into one big problem when using those motors and it's that they will move too fast. you NEED gearing even if it's some pullies scavinged from VCRs. 30rpm is great for most robots i find.

[madsci1016]

I highly doubt these are motors that run one direction faster then the other.

Also, I don't see left or right, i see some foreign langauge. Are you translating the page?

[Zellenny]

Hey guys, thanks for replying I went there today and they told me that these motors are used in stuff like cassette players. So can i do something with them?

PS: it is a Croatian website so i translated what it says

[blackbeard]

Hey guys, thanks for replying I went there today and they told me that these motors are used in stuff like cassette players. So can i do something with them?

PS: it is a Croatian website so i translated what it says

they would likely be too fast to use alone. you will probably need some sort of gearing which you may or may not have. if you can make an effective chassis with a material like acrylic and can design it to support simple mechanics (i.e. gear systems or pully systems) then you can gear it down to a level the you can work with. to be honest though you should REALLY get some way to buy online even if it's through a prepaid credit card (for security of if you're not old enough/don't have a full one). both price and veriety are never at a premium when you buy local so you will often find yourself scavanging for the parts you need or paying half over what it would cost with shipping.