973 Remote Assistance and Mentorship Program (RAMP)

[AdamHeard]

Over the years, 973 has helped a great number of teams informally through direct communication (private messages, instant message, email, etc…) providing everything from basic design advice to design review to fabrication of key parts in a pinch. This was never advertised, so we believe we could reach more teams by doing so.

For the 2014 Season, 973 is pleased to announce the Remote Assistance and Mentorship Program (RAMP). By emailing 973Ramp@gmail.com with your team number in the subject line teams can apply for help by answering some brief questions:

What kind of help you are looking for.
how many mentors you have.
what events you are going to.
what machines/resources you have in house and at sponsors.
what communication methods works best for you.


From there, we will do our best to respond and help as many as possible. We are unsure how many people will ask for help, so we will do our best to help everybody, but we will focus our help where we feel it is appropriate. Some rough guidelines explaining our selection process are below


Teams without mentors will be given #1 priority.


Teams with simple problems with quick answers will likely get their answers due to the low cost involved on our end.


We are interested in helping teams that need it, but we also have to balance our own needs. Requests for parts manufacture need to demonstrate a GREAT need, and our own schedule needs to be free enough to allow it. We may reply with recommendations of COTS parts that can solve your problem. It’s very likely we will fabricate parts for teams this year, but it may not be your team. So please do not be upset if this is the case.


We will not design your robot for you, or give out designs. We will gladly review and recommend changes to your design though.


In the interest of maximizing the amount of people we can help for our efforts, we may respond not with a direct answer, but instead with links or information that pushes you pretty nicely into the direction of your answer. Of course, if further clarification is needed feel free to contact us again.

We are focused on giving quality and actionable advice rather than quantity of advice, so all mentorship provided will be from our Top mentors. If the demand far outpaces our ability to reply, we will unfortunately be unavailable to those that ask. If this is the case, we will put efforts into recruiting other capable teams/mentors to assist for the 2015 season.

We will also be posting a series of videos to help teams with the design process, so if you have any questions or ideas that you’d like covered, please submit them to 973Ramp@gmail.com.

[MichaelBick]

I'm glad to hear this is being made officially available. 973's(indirect or direct) help has been a key part of the development of Team 1836 these past couple years. In just these two years we have advanced so much: we went from rank 38 at the LA regional in 2011, to 8th alliance captain at Israel 2013, culminating in alliance captaining the finalist alliance at The 2013 Madtown Throwdown. We know that they're always open to help and we're glad to call them good friends. I highly recommend that everybody takes advantage of this resource. It's an amazing opportunity to get advice and help from a powerhouse team.

[rsisk]

We to have been helped by 973 in the past and very much welcome the RAMP program. It's good to know you have a resource like this in a pinch.

[Akash Rastogi]

Adam was one of the first people in FRC I reached out to when I wanted to learn more about FRC and design work, especially after I saw Raptor in 2009. 973's robot inspired me a ton that year. He also used to help me and RC when we were learning things. Even past that, his public CAD files and presence on CD always teaches me new things. Adam is also always willing to help if you message him asking questions.

I guess this is just my long overdue thank you to him, as well as a little testimonial :)

-Akash

.

[AdamHeard]

Thanks for the kind words everybody, rereading what I posted I realize I missed a little bit of what I wanted to say.

We really just want to help teams be better in any way they can. No question is too big or too small (from design issues to simply where do you buy XYZ), so please don't hesitate to ask.

[sanddrag]

Can we pay extra for direct phone support? :D

[DampRobot]

So, just to be clear, this is basically just a way to advertise your "services" and build a contact list for teams that want help?

[AdamHeard]

First video is out, I'm going to try to do a bunch before kickoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCjBx3TXB6Y

Youtube capped my video to 360, anyone know how to fix that?

Also the recording program caused some artifacts and weirdness. I'm using Camstudio, any recommendations on a better program?

So, just to be clear, this is basically just a way to advertise your "services" and build a contact list for teams that want help?

Not exactly how I'd phrase it, but more or less that's the case.

I've helped a lot of teams in the past both where I've initiated the communication and where they have. I'd like to think now that we're encouraging teams to contact us, more will and therefore we can help more people. There isn't some secondary motive here, I just have a soft spot for teams without mentors (or teams that just haven't figured it all out yet). A little bit of advice or a push in the right direction can really make a big difference to a team, and the improved experience the kids get out of that is just awesome.

[yash101]

That's quite neat! I can help spread the word, if you'd like :D

[Brandon_L]

First video is out, I'm going to try to do a bunch before kickoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCjBx3TXB6Y

Youtube capped my video to 360, anyone know how to fix that?

Also the recording program caused some artifacts and weirdness. I'm using Camstudio, any recommendations on a better program?


Open Broadcasting Software. You can live stream, or stream to a file (aka record). Records audio inputs as well.

http://obsproject.com/

In action with solidworks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc5YWb2aDtk)

[Steven Donow]

First video is out, I'm going to try to do a bunch before kickoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCjBx3TXB6Y

Youtube capped my video to 360, anyone know how to fix that?

Also the recording program caused some artifacts and weirdness. I'm using Camstudio, any recommendations on a better program?



Great great video, my only problem with it is that the audio is VERY quiet. Other than that, awesome video, and I can't wait to see the rest of what you guys have to offer.

[AdamHeard]

Great great video, my only problem with it is that the audio is VERY quiet. Other than that, awesome video, and I can't wait to see the rest of what you guys have to offer.

I'm using a mic off my headphones, and I know it's quiet. I ordered a better mic for future videos, but it's not here yet obviously. Thanks for the heads up though!

[AlecMataloni]

Just watched most of the video, and I can already say that I've learned enough tips and tricks to be a more efficient designer than I was 10 minutes ago. Thanks for this!

[Joe Ross]

Youtube capped my video to 360, anyone know how to fix that?

I assume you mean 360p resolution? Youtube processes lower resolutions first, and over the course of a few hours, all resolutions will be available (assuming the source video was HD). I see 1080p available now.

[TheMadCADer]

Seconding Open Broadcaster Software. It's made for live streaming, but recording to a file works excellently. I've used it for a bunch of things with no trouble.

[DampRobot]

Adam, have you ever used the "Copy with Mates" tool? It looks like you could save some time on stuff where you're inserting multiple parts at once, like those wheel trucks or gussets. I learned about it last year, and it saved me a ton of time over individually dropping in parts and then adding mates.

[AdamHeard]

Adam, have you ever used the "Copy with Mates" tool? It looks like you could save some time on stuff where you're inserting multiple parts at once, like those wheel trucks or gussets. I learned about it last year, and it saved me a ton of time over individually dropping in parts and then adding mates.

Nice! I'm already learning some new features. This is a cool one.

Also, Joe, you are correct. I noticed the other video sizes came later. Good to know.

[Travis Schuh]

First video is out, I'm going to try to do a bunch before kickoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCjBx3TXB6Y

Youtube capped my video to 360, anyone know how to fix that?



I watched your video just to see what cool solidworks/design tricks you use (gotta love youtube 2x), and figure I might as well share some of my favorite with you. Particularly because you called out that you enjoy hearing about other's favorites.

I personally prefer to have only one contiguous outline in sketches (instead of having overlapping contours and selecting the regions when executing the feature). I realize it may take a little more time, but it makes me happier and I think it may reduce confusion when adding more contours back into sketches. I find the power trim tool to be pretty effective at turning things into non-overlaping closed contours. I probably would have used it on the gearbox, but doesn't look like it would have done much good on the gusset.

Also, on the gearboxes, I find myself drawing the pitch circles and then dimensioning the circles apart by the .003 spacing. This is just one of the many other ways as you mentioned. I recently found that when dimensioning between circles, you can select the arc condition between center (default), closest, and furthest. This saves me a lot of time over drawing construction geometry, constraining it to be the minimum distance between circles, and then dimensioning that. I think solidworks lets you alternate which condition it places it down with if you hold shift as you place them, or you can change it afterwards by going to the second tab in the property manager when selecting the dimension after the dimension is placed.

I look forward to the rest of your videos.

-Travis

[AdamHeard]

Three new videos up! A rambling finish to the WCD, and then two short videos; one on symmetry/mirrors and one on pocketing.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX0Y091TMRKi8PqNfYoImiw/videos


I personally prefer to have only one contiguous outline in sketches (instead of having overlapping contours and selecting the regions when executing the feature). I realize it may take a little more time, but it makes me happier and I think it may reduce confusion when adding more contours back into sketches. I find the power trim tool to be pretty effective at turning things into non-overlaping closed contours. I probably would have used it on the gearbox, but doesn't look like it would have done much good on the gusset.


Oh boy. You're not going to like the pocketing video that just finished uploading...

I agree with your point, and I'm a bit sloppy in that regard but generally do trim to make things clean (except in the pocketing example).

Thanks for the tip on the gears, I was doing PD circles + .003 and then also doing the OD (as I like seeing the clearances) as a radial dimension off the PD, but I kind of got sick of drawing all that and it was visually clunky.

[Travis Schuh]

Oh boy. You're not going to like the pocketing video that just finished uploading...



It made me cringe a little, but I do appreciate how quickly you laid out that pocketing. I will have to give it a try on some parts and hope that Austin doesn't kill me for it.

-Travis

[TD78]

Adam,

Great thread and videos. I've forwarded them on to my team and I might have sparked interest in a few new people already. I think it helps seeing something people can relate to created in the SW environment vs. going through a standard tutorial video. It was mentioned to me that you were going a little fast...but I understand that was probably slow for you. I just tell them to stop the video until they can catch up. It was good to see that I'm not the only person who abuses construction lines. Also happy to learn new things...the symmetric mate is very cool...and I'll have to check out some of the other ones mentioned recently (like copy with mates). Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing more videos.

[mplanchard]

This is a wonderful idea Adam. Thank you for helping so many. Marie

[Nemo]

Adam - thanks for all of the great technical and discussion you've contributed over the years. I definitely pay attention to what you say.

Adam and 973 are awesome. Super friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. I hope a bunch of teams get in touch via this RAMP program and bring their programs up a couple of notches.

[AdamHeard]

Good news! Four new videos are up.

Bad news, Travis won't be my friend anymore most likely.....

Anyone have recommendations for how/where I should start dumping all these CAD files?

[Michael Corsetto]

Anyone have recommendations for how/where I should start dumping all these CAD files?

Google Drive? ;)

[DampRobot]

Some other CAD commentary for you to mull over (now that Travis won't be your friend anymore...):

It seemed like a lot of your sketches for parts put essentially all part geometry into one sketch. I'm not saying that the way you're doing it is wrong or bad, but I've always been taught that having multiple 3d features produces a more robust and adaptable model than including a lot of complication in sketches. Additionally, I hope that when I teach kids to CAD with a lot of features (for example on frame tubing, first the profile extrusion, then any wheel holes, then top gusset holes, then gearbox holes, etc), that they realize that the way they model a part should reflect what depends on what and how it will actually be manufactured. Of course, I can definitely see how you might find putting a lot of stuff in a sketch faster.

Also, I'm totally in the same boat a you for construction geometry. It's a really neat and agile tool which you can always find clever ways to use.

Finally, for those situations where you want to put a fillet somewhere where there are two edges so close together that it would break the normal fillet command, use face fillet mode. You have to manually select the two faces you want to "join"with a fillet, but it is generally a much more robust tool. It's great for forcing all those weird fillets where the edges don't quite work out right.

[Akash Rastogi]

It seemed like a lot of your sketches for parts put essentially all part geometry into one sketch. I'm not saying that the way you're doing it is wrong or bad, but I've always been taught that having multiple 3d features produces a more robust and adaptable model than including a lot of complication in sketches. Additionally, I hope that when I teach kids to CAD with a lot of features (for example on frame tubing, first the profile extrusion, then any wheel holes, then top gusset holes, then gearbox holes, etc), that they realize that the way they model a part should reflect what depends on what and how it will actually be manufactured. Of course, I can definitely see how you might find putting a lot of stuff in a sketch faster.

Same here actually. But I distribute part geometry into different sketches because I'm more prone to goofs and mistakes :o

The configurations tool was one of the most useful things I learned during internships. Glad these videos exist so I can teach other kids in a really well presented manner.

Thanks again for these, Adam. Looking forward to more information on best practices for elevator designs. These videos are perfect right now while I have time to CAD stuff up!

By the way, I can't even imagine the amount of restraint you're showing in not using the keyboard and mouse shortcuts lol

[Chris is me]

Google Drive? ;)

I've had tons of problems using Google Drive for CAD. It likes to change everything I upload into word documents. Dropbox is probably a good place to start.

I really prefer the "everything in a sketch" approach to part design. Being able to click one thing and see all of the variables you can change rather than digging through a dozen different cuts and extrudes is just more efficient.

[Michael Corsetto]

I've had tons of problems using Google Drive for CAD. It likes to change everything I upload into word documents. Dropbox is probably a good place to start.

Was more of a joke since Adam is definitely sipping the Google Drive koolaid (as am I).

However, as long as you don't select the "convert documents to corresponding Google Docs format" option when uploading, Drive should be sufficient to host any file formats you'd like. However, I can see how, if you make the mistake to convert a file, Google Drive can be very annoying for hosting CAD files. I would definitely agree with Dropbox, Box, etc as more fool-proof options.

[Coach Norm]

Good news! Four new videos are up.

Anyone have recommendations for how/where I should start dumping all these CAD files?


Adam,

Thanks for the tutorials and for the peak behind the hood of how your design. I have shared these with my students on 2468 as well as our 3D Design and Presentation teacher here at Westlake High School.

I have learned something from each of the videos I have watched. Some of them I will have to watch again to be sure I get all the little gems in each. This is a great resource for teams and individuals.

In regards to CAD files, what about 3D Content Central?

Thanks and looking forward to more videos and learning from you and the others that are posting here.

Coach Norm

[AdamHeard]

It seemed like a lot of your sketches for parts put essentially all part geometry into one sketch. I'm not saying that the way you're doing it is wrong or bad, but I've always been taught that having multiple 3d features produces a more robust and adaptable model than including a lot of complication in sketches. Additionally, I hope that when I teach kids to CAD with a lot of features (for example on frame tubing, first the profile extrusion, then any wheel holes, then top gusset holes, then gearbox holes, etc), that they realize that the way they model a part should reflect what depends on what and how it will actually be manufactured. Of course, I can definitely see how you might find putting a lot of stuff in a sketch faster.


Most of the parts that I do the massive sketch for are essentially 2d parts (even tubing is 2d in my mind in many cases). I don't see how this makes the model less adaptable in any significance, I actually find it to be more reflexive as it's much faster/easier to change dimensions. If you want gearbox holes 4.5" spaced on center, how is it different to do that in the same sketch as the bearing block cut versus another feature in terms of robustness? However, putting them in the same sketch lets you see everything at once and iterate dimensions faster.

At some point I'll go over our swerve corner plates, that's a part that really literally I would not have done if we didn't do it one sketch, it just would've been too much time spent jumping between features.

Thanks for the tip on face fillet, that's a good one.

[Adam Freeman]

Adam,

These videos are really awesome! As someone who only opens Solidworks between Jan-Apr (and mostly works in AutoCAD 2D), they help provide a nice refresher on an efficient way to model parts.

I think the symetric mate and configuration tool will be very helpful for me this season and hopefully eliminate a lot of frustration I have with working with a Solidworks model.

You've mentioned some keyboard short-cuts a couple of times.... I'd be interested in knowing some of basic ones that you use most often.

Thanks,
Adam

[sailer99]

Have you ever played around with the weldmets tool in Solidworks? I have found it makes working with tubing a lot easier and faster once you get some experience with it,

[AdamHeard]

Adam,

These videos are really awesome! As someone who only opens Solidworks between Jan-Apr (and mostly works in AutoCAD 2D), they help provide a nice refresher on an efficient way to model parts.

I think the symetric mate and configuration tool will be very helpful for me this season and hopefully eliminate a lot of frustration I have with working with a Solidworks model.

You've mentioned some keyboard short-cuts a couple of times.... I'd be interested in knowing some of basic ones that you use most often.

Thanks,
Adam

More or less I just map my most commonly used tools (not just features/geometry, but measure, mass properties, etc...) to different keyboard keys. Some are already mapped by SW. I then go further and use a mouse with many keys on it (I use the logitech g700 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104377) now, but am debating getting something with more buttons). This has 3 sets of keys per program you can cycle through, so I have a mode for sketches, one that is kind of half way sketches/features (for part level work) and one that is for assemblies (mates, mass properties). I also map the enter key in all 3, so that saves a lot of time being able to enter with the mouse.

When I first did this I had to spend some time and make a cheat sheet and practice, but it ends up saving a lot of time in the long run. The mouse I use saves its settings locally, and then I have a SW settings file that can be used to setup my shortcuts on other computers.

Have you ever played around with the weldmets tool in Solidworks? I have found it makes working with tubing a lot easier and faster once you get some experience with it,

For most of the frames we do in FRC they are simple enough, and I want to control the end conditions more closely, so that the weldment tool is kind of a funky fit. I do use it all the time outside of FRC for larger frames and really love it. The tediousness of the end conditions makes it a rough fit for a frame in FRC where an inexperienced SW user would be working with assemblies I've made.

I definitely agree though, it's a cool tool with a lot of power. I love how it generates essentially unique drawings per tube and a complete cut list.

EDIT: Just caved and ordered a g600 with more buttons.
Also, some good videos on shortcuts (SW has WAY too many methods for mapping shortcuts).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmAk7lOby24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFS71Cb9yeg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owKlVEGT7Ak

[AdamHeard]

6 New Videos are up!

They are;
-Motor Curves
-Motor sizing for Arms
-Motor sizing for Elevators
-The Power Transmission and Cable rigging on our elevator
-Designing linkages with sketches
-Designing robots with sketches.

[Mark Sheridan]

Very awesome videos.

I wondering about if you have time to post a video on how to CAD your sheet metal (or was that water jet?) gears/racks. I have heard many methods and I was curious about yours. I have always done the sketching of gears by making arches and I am really slow doing it that way. I know solid works has a gear generator and I was not sure how accurate it is. I have heard of people taking a profile from a step file of a gear. Lastly, do you compensate for anodize or coating?

[ttldomination]

Looking through your videos, it's logical that when you cascade, the linear speed goes up and the force goes down, but I'm curious about where that "reduction" takes place? By my guess, that would happen at the transition from the 2nd stage to the carriage, but I'm not seeing why the stall force would go down...

In the same video, when you're calculating the combined weight at the carriage, why do you divide both the 2nd stage weight and the constant force spring force by two? I suppose this ties into the first question, but wouldn't the CFS just be responsible for lifting the weight of the 2nd stage + carriage outright?

- Sunny G.

[artdutra04]

Just watched a few of these videos, and they have some great information in them. I've also used the 2D sketches to "design" robots and layouts for years now, but there is one thing you can do to make the process even better. Draw all the fixed geometry things (such as the height of 2011 pegs or a tipped bridge in 2012 or pyramid profile in 2013) or sizing volume limitations or robot chassis/bumpers (if size is already nailed down) on one sketch. Close the sketch, turn on Visible Sketches, then right click on the sketch in the feature tree and click Edit Sketch Color. Make this red or green or a different color.

Then start a new sketch on the same exact plane as the original sketch, and start drawing drive trains, arms, elevators, etc in this new sketch. This does three things: 1. it hides all the sketch dimensions for fixed geometry that clutters your screen, 2. it make it easier to see the difference between field/robot lines when you start adding all kinds of mechanisms or linkages and 3. you can iterate through ideas quickly by closing a sketch, hiding/suppressing it, then starting another new sketch on the same plane= without having to redraw all the fixed geometry.

Oh boy. You're not going to like the pocketing video that just finished uploading...

I agree with your point, and I'm a bit sloppy in that regard but generally do trim to make things clean (except in the pocketing example).I also cringed at the untrimmed lines in the pocketing video, as I've lost track of how many times I've been sloppy modeling stuff and it takes more time to fix things if when there's more iterations and everything breaks. For the past two years I've always used a model-it-right-the-first-time attitude towards all CAD.

[David Guzman]

Adam,

Great job on these videos. Just saw a few of them and I am very impressed. I use Autodesk Inventor, but I found most of the practice still apply and even learned some new cool ones I plan on using.

Thank you for doing this. I wish someone had done something like this 8 years ago when I became interested in CAD and Robot Design.

Keep it up!

[Nemo]

I love the Designing Robots with Sketches (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XzdzE0L3HY) video. I've been trying to push people in this direction on my team, so this will be a good video link for me to send their way.

[wilful]

I love the Designing Robots with Sketches (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XzdzE0L3HY) video. I've been trying to push people in this direction on my team, so this will be a good video link for me to send their way.

I agree. One of the most useful things I have learned about soildworks

[audietron]

The videos explaining the elevator were really good.
You said in part 2 you might do another one showing how to do the same cascading elevator but with chain instead of rack and pinion. This would be great to see for teams who don't have water jet to create the rack or like you said have limited use for it. Great videos!

[peronis]

Awesome job on these videos. I emailed the link out to my team today as a primer before kickoff.

Thank you so much!

[AdamHeard]

Another video on Cascade elevators is up, specifically using chain to drive the first stage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJrSkXs-5CE&feature=youtu.be

[AdamHeard]

Now that season has started I wanted to remind teams that we're here to help and feel free to contact us.

Also, know that we all know the game, any video request specific to it?

[Nemo]

Another video on Cascade elevators is up, specifically using chain to drive the first stage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJrSkXs-5CE&feature=youtu.be

That was easier and better than the way I came up with in my pre-season playing around with your elevator design. Thanks for posting. One of these years we're gonna build one of these bearing supported elevators.

[Answer42]

Does 973 have a way of keeping cad files for the robot up to date with multiple people working on them? I've seen a lot of teams struggle with this and I was wondering if you had any tricks.

[RKSolid]

Hi 973,

I currently an employee at SolidWorks and I wanted to let you know that the software you receive from our free sponsorship comes with a data management software. This program is called Workgroup PDM. It works across a network and allows users the ability to check in and check out different files as well as set permissions on different files for different users. For more information see below.


FAQ: http://help.solidworks.com/2013/English/PDMWorks/c_FAQ_for_Administrators.htm
Installation: http://www.solidworks.com/sw/education/educator-installation-guides-and-support.htm
Tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aQ14JJDSSs

~Ryan

[cxcad]

What about a video on integrating CAD design and the build process. I know a lot of teams struggle with this and so does mine... A video on dividing CAD work would be nice too

[DampRobot]

A lot of people don't know that scouting is really an integral part of the secret sauce that makes 973 so awesome. Could you do a video where you talk about what qualitative things you look for when scouting, and how you make your pick lists?

[rcmolloy]

A lot of people don't know that scouting is really an integral part of the secret sauce that makes 973 so awesome. Could you do a video where you talk about what qualitative things you look for when scouting, and how you make your pick lists?

I was planning on having a discussion with Adam on this topic and see what exactly we could do to educate everyone about our scouting procedures. I think the post should spark his interest. It already reminded me that I wanted to make a video related to scouting.

[lukedude43]

Hey, you said the mirror sizing for arms and elevators videos were up, I may just be completely blind but I can't find them

[AdamHeard]

Hey, you said the mirror sizing for arms and elevators videos were up, I may just be completely blind but I can't find them

Here you go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TbRbSmwVbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cRS7TF2KM8

[lukedude43]

Thanks, apparently I'm blind and proofreading challenged :P

[cxcad]

Woah, I never noticed that there are more videos than those found on the website.

[Adam.garcia]

Hello,

First of all, I love these videos. I'm going to show it to our kids. They'll really benefit from them, as I have learned quite a few things myself.

In your designing with sketches video, you mentioned that you created a top-down designed Elevator system in the past, where changing a couple numbers would repopulate the entire assembly. I think it'd be a good learning resource for myself, as well as others.

Thanks,
Adam

[AdamHeard]

New video posted on a COTS single joint (and potentially double joint) arm design.

More videos coming soon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1bLacxONlY&feature=youtu.be

[Jim Wilks]

Well done!

[JesseK]

Adam, I just watched these again. I didn't actually watch more than the WCD stuff last December since I wasn't overly involved with overall design. This is Grade A stuff. Attached is how the design sketches worked in 2012 for ball flow through the robot for us (this wasn't our production design).

Since I'm going to CAD quite a bit more this season, it was a good brush up on a lot of the tricks and techniques I'd forgotten since I haven't CAD'ed FRC in 20 months (ha).

A word of caution about mirroring across or centering on a 'top' plane - some 3D printing STL > gcode programs, like Slic3r, cannot handle that and will slice off the bottom half of the part.

[AdamHeard]

Adam, I just watched these again. I didn't actually watch more than the WCD stuff last December since I wasn't overly involved with overall design. This is Grade A stuff. Attached is how the design sketches worked in 2012 for ball flow through the robot for us (this wasn't our production design).

Since I'm going to CAD quite a bit more this season, it was a good brush up on a lot of the tricks and techniques I'd forgotten since I haven't CAD'ed FRC in 20 months (ha).

A word of caution about mirroring across or centering on a 'top' plane - some 3D printing STL > gcode programs, like Slic3r, cannot handle that and will slice off the bottom half of the part.

If we want to move the origin before export we do a body move in SW to allign as desired. I prefer this to giving up symmetry.

Thanks for the warning though. Its certainly important to consider the whole process (CAD to CAM when you're using it).

[Monochron]

I haven't checked any of your stuff out before until today. I just wanted to say that the CAD videos you post are exactly what our team needs. We are low on mechanical mentors and being able to see detailed designs of different types of mechanisms with someone able to explain how everything moves together is a huge help. I've got these queued up to watch tomorrow :D

[AdamHeard]

Two new videos up!

After three years of shooting, I'm hoping it's an arm/elevator game (I did make a similar argument that was clearly flawed last year though...).

One video on COTS bearing implementations for an elevator, so supplement last year's videos on Cascade elevators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_HG1_oCbXk&feature=youtu.be

One video on COTS arm implementations to update the one from this fall now that some new COTS items are out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SRyYz-tFxQ&feature=youtu.be

[AllenGregoryIV]

That's awesome Adam, I'm hoping for a arm/lift game as well. I'm tired of shooting stuff. Thanks for posting these videos they are a great resource for teams.

[Jared]

Two new videos up!

After three years of shooting, I'm hoping it's an arm/elevator game (I did make a similar argument that was clearly flawed last year though...).

One video on COTS bearing implementations for an elevator, so supplement last year's videos on Cascade elevators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_HG1_oCbXk&feature=youtu.be

One video on COTS arm implementations to update the one from this fall now that some new COTS items are out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SRyYz-tFxQ&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for the videos, they've helped me get more into design in the past seasons, and they're always full of great information.

I have a few questions about your elevator design. How much clearance are you putting in between the round surface of the bearing and the aluminum it's rolling on? Also, how difficult was it to get the tolerances needed to make it roll smoothly?

EDIT: Why did you decide to go with cascaded over continuous?

[Andrew Lawrence]

Once again, a huge thank you to Adam Heard and FRC 973 for these fantastic resources. Your contributions to the FIRST community, especially the low resource teams, have made all the difference in getting everybody to a higher level of competitive play.

[AdamHeard]

Thanks for the videos, they've helped me get more into design in the past seasons, and they're always full of great information.

I have a few questions about your elevator design. How much clearance are you putting in between the round surface of the bearing and the aluminum it's rolling on? Also, how difficult was it to get the tolerances needed to make it roll smoothly?

EDIT: Why did you decide to go with cascaded over continuous?

We've done 0 and had it work, there is some slop in the holes interfacing with the bolts that help.

You can add more if you're concerned with manufacturing tolerances.

It should be pretty easy to hold a few thou accuracy on manual mills and routers.

As for cascade versus continuous... A lot of reasons. Just in rigging alone it's FAR easier. The videos I posted on it talk through it a lot. The ability to do whatever power transmission you want for the first stage is very nice.

The fact that both stages move up together puts the carriage centered in the 2nd when the 2nd is centered in the rigid frame, greatly reducing the chance of a carriage popping out.

[MrRiedemanJACC]

Thanks a ton for these. This will help many teams ours included!

[notmattlythgoe]

Thanks for the videos Adam. I know a team or two that I'm going to point towards your youtube channel.

[z_beeblebrox]

Thanks for the videos!

Adam, a quick SolidWorks question:

When do define holes in a sketch versus with Hole Wizard?

[AdamHeard]

Thanks for the videos!

Adam, a quick SolidWorks question:

When do define holes in a sketch versus with Hole Wizard?

For the team.... I almost always do it in the sketch, as we move so quickly that it's nice having one sketch define an entire part (or system).

It helps that we really only do a few holes.

For odd sized holes we want modeled correctly, we'll make them .050" or something in the sketch, just to give a location to use with hole wizard later.

In industry and for work, there is less emphasis on speed and I don't like parts as heavily. We also do more official drawings, and having things standardized is nice. So I will use hole wizard far more there.

[cxcad]

With such a small team, how do you manage to get the students to prototype, cad, and build two robots? In particular, how do you guys manage to do such detailed cad work so fast?

[MichaelBick]

With such a small team, how do you manage to get the students to prototype, cad, and build two robots? In particular, how do you guys manage to do such detailed cad work so fast?

Little known secret: they build three robots

[Thad House]

With such a small team, how do you manage to get the students to prototype, cad, and build two robots? In particular, how do you guys manage to do such detailed cad work so fast?

I think the key is to NOT do super detailed cad work. For things like drivetrains, its already pretty known what is needed, so you can usually use much simpler constraints and just get your custom pieces designed correctly. If its missing a few parts, or some holes are not exactly the right size, that is usually ok, because those things can usually be written out manually faster then cadded.

Another thing is that if you cad everything first, building multiples of something really doesn't add too much time. It doesn't take 2 times as long to build a second part, because most of the time is spent setting up the machines anyway.

[AdamHeard]

With such a small team, how do you manage to get the students to prototype, cad, and build two robots? In particular, how do you guys manage to do such detailed cad work so fast?

It's the expectation that every student on 973 works all the time, every day of shop. There is always something to do and a way to help.

Not every kid is a driving force on the creative side of things, but they will all make parts, help assemble, etc...

As for design, kids designing work year round to practice. That combined with the really fast style I teach allows quick work.

We don't waste time making parts 3d until we really want them. Most concepts are developed in 2d sketches, or a single 3d block part to figure out dimensions. This cuts iteration time down a LOT.

We've also spent a lot of time optimizing design for fab, and our fabrication processes. The in house router is a huge help.

[MrRiedemanJACC]

So quick question, let's say you had an elevator travelling 6 feet, but you wanted your end effector to travel only 5 inches. Would you do that with a separate motor or with something "piggybacking" off the elevator lift and "stepping down" the movement so that it actuates the 5 inches while the elevator actuates the 6 feet? Or just use a slide and another device for the last motion? Think something in the terms that you want to place totes with the elevator, and use the last motion when you place a container on top. :)


And yes I think this is year where there will be a lot of elevators....

[sailer99]

On the cascade elevator what tolerances did you use on your 2011 elevator for the slides on the tubing. 2x1 tubing isn't always exactly 2" wide so I was wondering what width between the bearings worked.

[AdamHeard]

On the cascade elevator what tolerances did you use on your 2011 elevator for the slides on the tubing. 2x1 tubing isn't always exactly 2" wide so I was wondering what width between the bearings worked.

I think we designed for .005" then. We now design for 0".

The bolts, bearings, plates holding them, all have some mechanical slop in there interfaces (it's all through holes, not tapped).

There is nothing wrong with adding more spacing in the plates to account for lower tolerances if you can't hold +/-.005. It will just add slop.

If too tight initially, take some time to wear it in. The steel bearings will wear the aluminum to a happy medium pretty quick.