I've been working with a couple of RC Servos lately and I had to ask this. Is it safe to rotate the servo manually with hand when it is powered off. The servos are made up of metal gear trains and have insane torque ratings (40kg/cm to be specific). This is something that I need in my project, so how safe is it to do this so that it doesn't damage these servos?
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I've done this numerous times with small servos with plastic gears for R/C planes. They can be turned by hand if you are really careful AND if they are powered off. I don't see how your "insane" servos could break if you turn them manually, slowly and powered off.
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\$\begingroup\$ Then why do many forums claim it's harmful? Since the servo is designed to rotate from the biggest gear to the smallest one , if we rotate it manually it's the other way round. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 4:50
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\$\begingroup\$ It can be harmful, so its not a bad claim. If you have a weak servo there is a possibility that you will break something as your fingers might well exceed the max torque if you're not careful. There are also some "digital" servos which use hand turning for programming, but that is a different story. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 6, 2016 at 18:55