How to use igus chain.
 

My team has a 360 degree turret on top and we ran in to a wiring problem. We can't fully turn 360 degrees so we were wondering what techniques other teams have used to accomplish a 360 degree turning turret. So far we have decided to use the igus chain from the kit of parts but have no experience with this. Any help is greatly appreciated. If you have any pictures of successfully using the igus for wiring please post them!!! Videos are great too or even a detailed description on what to do. Thanks and good luck on you're last weekend of build season!!

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Sounds to me like you're having an issue with the wires rotating. The IGUS "Energy Chain" is more of a linear solution (http://www.igus.com/wpck/default.asp...nr=4236&C=US&L) I don't know how well it would work in your application. Something more along the lines of a slip ring is what your looking for. Not sure if that sort of thing is legal though, you'll have to check the rules.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Slip rings are legal (given that they are of the proper size). However, the energy chain might work if given enough extra wire.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

I know this may be a little late now but we have had a lot of luck with cable zip as cable management in the past if you cant get the igus chain to work out

http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware...597,50658&ap=1

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

A slip ring is a beautiful solution, but our team counted out something like 27 wires, and a slip ring for that could get into the three-digit range of pricing and be difficult to find. We settled on a large excess of wire in a conduit sleeve with some piano wire, anchored just above and below the turret so it can stretch around to the motors.
Maybe a little jankity, bit it works.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

I think we are going with something somewhat like this. Thanks so much for the input!:D

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Hey Ben - need to plan where the wires get wrapped around, make sure they don't get into the shooter etc. They need to get wrapped with something, maybe a plastic spiral wrap?

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Lesley,
Those slip ring assemblies are for very small currents. Generally intended for small signals rather than for power. While we could find many in the US, I couldn't begin to point you to anywhere in China.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Adafruit.com toroid-slip-ring-2-1-od-12-id-6-wires-max-240v-5a/

Adafruit.com slip-ring-with-flange-22mm-diameter-6-wires-max-240v-2a/

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Looking at the slip ring. 5A will not run your shooter motors. The slip ring center line needs to be on the turret center line. So your ball transport either needs to be not through the center liner or your slip rings needs to be of sufficient Dia to allow the balls thru it.

I have never tried it, but I would be hesitant to run any kind of digital com (encoder, canbus) thru a slip ring.

Igus does make energy chain designed for 3D movement. It is a little space intensive though.

Carefull use of wire ties & spiral wrap will allow +- 180 degree rotation fairly easily.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Sounds like the base of your problem is you are not wiring from the axis. IE Center of rotation

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

I think what he is saying is that their turret is technically capable of turning 360, but they cant without pulling on or tangling the wires. Most of the teams I looked closely at had what Ekcrbe described. You cant wire from the axis because, in most turrets, that is where the balls go.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

We struggled a bit with our shooter trying to figure this out and ended up fastening the wire bundle at the top of the shooter hood near the center of rotation. The bundle only needs to allow for some twist at that point and you have to prevent rotation to where the ball would be shooting through the bundle-- or at least prevent shooting at that point.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

That makes more sense. I thought he was recommending you route the wires up through the axis of rotation, in the middle of the turret.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

If you did it that way, then you'd also need the ball cutting mechanism and ball repair mechanism at the shooter exit point. Makes it a bit more complicated...

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Maybe a quantum transport mechanism? :0 The heat gun required to reassemble the ball didn't get by tech inspection.

We attached our wire bundle on the outboard edge of the turret & high on the support frame: allowing a loop to hang down. We used spiral wrap to keep it compact & made sure there was no perturbations on the robot for it to hang on. We easily got +- 180 degrees.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

I actually was actually unsure of how my theory would work until I realized a fixed point above the center of rotation would do the trick.

Re: How to use igus chain.
 

Igus actually offers several non-linear products that may be beneficial for the application. The following links will take you to a couple of them.
http://www.igus.de/wpck/default.aspx...tband&CL=DE-en
http://www.igus.de/wpck/default.aspx...7085&C=DE&L=en
http://www.igus.de/wpck/default.aspx...2899&C=DE&L=en