What are the effects of mechanical backlash?
Any backlash between the angular position of the motor shaft and the position of the feedback pot may lead to instability or oscillation. With backlash, the feedback pot can’t properly indicate the motor position, allowing the motor to begin to move without any feedback, which may cause system oscillations. The greater the backlash, the greater the tendency of the system to oscillate. In systems with a great deal of backlash, the best solution is to connect an optical encoder directly to the motor shaft in order to provide the control loop with a feedback signal as soon as the motor begins to move. At present, however, our products do not accommodate such a dual feedback system and we simply recommend reducing the backlash.
