FRC Mechanical Design Calculator (By Dillon Carey and Aren Hill)

[Dillon Carey]

This link below will allow you to make a copy of the spreadsheet that both Aren Hill and myself have developed and used over the last couple years.

It isn't quite as polished as I would like, but it gets the job done. Feel free to poke around and leave a comment if you find anything that seems wrong, have any questions, or any suggestions for future revisions.

Here is an index of what is included in the sheet currently:

Motor Specs
Motor Combiner 1
Motor Combiner 2
Single Speed Drive
Motor Analysis
Available Drive Components
Sprint Distance
Gears
Belts
Battery Stats
Wire Stats
Arms/Rotary
Choo-Choo
Winch
Shooter Wheel
Momentum Vs Traction
Pneumatics
Weight Analysis


Link to create a copy of the sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_JS2IudP2v3aj_PhyVQysM31IObV7KFWVXE1luA5Bp0/copy?usp=sharing

[chapman1]

A nice bit of work! Thanks for sharing!

[Anupam Goli]

Thank you and Aren Hill for putting this sheet together. It's definitely going to be one of those calculators I refer to throughout the year for conceptualizing and designing robots and mechanisms.

[Michael Hill]

Awesome job. I think there are some improvements that could be made to the available power transmission components. I realize with Aren's involvement, it's going to be Vex-biased, but there are quite a few AndyMark gears not shown (particularly some of the odd-toothed gears), which can be useful for getting just the right reduction you're looking for. It would also be useful to include dog gears and ball-shifting gears as well.

Also, the motor spec for some of the motors use the published specs rather than the tested specs.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Awesome that this is finally public. Thanks guys.

[Dillon Carey]

Awesome job. I think there are some improvements that could be made to the available power transmission components. I realize with Aren's involvement, it's going to be Vex-biased, but there are quite a few AndyMark gears not shown (particularly some of the odd-toothed gears), which can be useful for getting just the right reduction you're looking for.

Adding the AM gear options would be useful. I would definitely still want to separate AM and VEX, to help reduce shipping costs.

It would also be useful to include dog gears and ball-shifting gears as well.


As you can see, there is a distinct lack of any support in the spreadsheet for multiple speed gearboxes. This is because in my opinion, drive trains only need 1 speed (with verrry rare exception).

That being said, the dog and ball gears can be used on things other than drive trains, so I may add them.

Also, the motor spec for some of the motors use the published specs rather than the tested specs.

This is definitely something that would be nice. Does anyone happen to have all of the test motor specs in a convenient spreadsheet format?

[cad321]

This is definitely something that would be nice. Does anyone happen to have all of the test motor specs in a convenient spreadsheet format?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but JVN's 2016 design calculator (https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140667&highlight=jvn) has all of the tested specs I believe. Just go to the data page and you should find everything you're looking for.

[Basel A]

Adding the AM gear options would be useful. I would definitely still want to separate AM and VEX, to help reduce shipping costs.

This would be great. Perhaps use color coding to indicate which are available from which? (e.g. Blue = AM, Yellow = VEX, Green = both)

[MaxMax161]

This is *AWESOME*! Thanks!

[chadr03]

Thanks this looks very useful.

I just wanted to point out on the Gears tab the formula written in cell A2
CC=((N1+N2)/P)+O should be CC=((N1+N2)/(P*2))+O. It appears that it is correct in the actual calculation just not in the description.

Thanks,

Chad