pic: 159 robot complete?
 

Just about done now. Everything is ready except for a few plastic bits, weighing in at a comfortable 108.8 lbs.




This is the first year in a long time that 159 hasn't had to frantically cut weight at the end of the season.




Also for the first time in a while, we machined our own two-speed gearboxes, using AM shifter gears and custom shifters. We are also using high-quality S6 encoders from US Digital, which are WAY better than any other encoders we have tried. They come in their own casing!




The (arguably) coolest part of our robot is the acentric bearing blocks. These fit into the 2-inch holes on our robot, and the center of the holes in the bearing blocks is 1/16 inch off of the center in both X and Y. This allows us to have 1/8 inch center drop, and then (once the chain wears) re-tension the chain by rotating the block 90 degrees. These bearing blocks were inspired by similar mechanisms to hold the bottom bracket on a single-speed bike and keep the chain tensioned.





EDIT: We also used these custom gearboxes on our lift system:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=102618