What the heck is that?!?
 

I've been wondering..."What's the strangest thing you've gotten in a 'Bin-O-Parts,' and what did you do with it?"

~Alex Wiser~
Lynbrook High School (#846...I think :D )

Probably all the door hinges and latches that we get. As far as I know, my team has never used any of those pieces. I'm sure some people have used them, but my team has not.

hinges....
 

Hey, (shameless self plug) if you get a chance, come check out the MOE pit at the comps (Drexel, VCU, nats). Im sure you'll find our use of hinges pretty cool. And if not, we'll give you some MOE mints...but you get more if you at least say you like it ;)

Actually, I thought of one use we had for hinges. This year for OCCRA (a local robotics league) we built a trapdoor on the front of our bot that used hinges. I guess I was wrong about never using them. Other than that, not much in the kit is really strange. Everything else is fairly useful, even if it may have never fit a design plan we used.

couplers?
 

What I want to know is what do I do with all of these trantorque couplers? Has anyone ever used them?

Re: couplers?
 

we used them on the CDI robot in 2000. we were looking for some the other day. and they are very expensive

We've also used them on CDI robots.....i think on the shafts near the wheels or somewhere....i dont really remember too well

:)

TransTorques have been around for quite a while, and if the shaft and outside dimensions are correct, will work well without slipping. If the dimensions of the mating shaft and outside diameter are not correct, transtorques can have the same proplem as set screws.

Does anyone know what that orange thingy with the hole next to it is? <Sorry I can't explain it better. I might be able to get a picture of it though...>

If it has a black button on the side, that's the Torque Motor.

That thing's a motor?!?!:eek: :eek: :eek:

I'll try to post a picture of it soon so that you can see what I'm talking about.

I don't think they were even supposed to be in the kits.

does anyone use them? I haven't seen any in use yet... maybe im not looking hard enough??

sure, easy
 

Torque motors are great for moving something that you need done by the end of the match.

You know, like raising a flag up by the end of the match so you can see where your robot is through it's cloud of smoke.

-smokescreen

PICTURE OF IT
 

Does anyone know what this is?

Surprised me too..
 

That thing actually is a motor, it's the Torque motor, and no I have no idea what to use it for.. Something that doesn't require much rotation, I guess..

But...
 

But how the heck would I get it to work? And what's with the button on the side?

Button....
 

When u push the button down on the side it allows you to move the little part back and forth that the motor moves.....


:)

Re: Surprised me too..
 

It'd be enough to lift a robot off the ground.

We were hosting the SCRRF (SoCal robotics forum) workshops today, and while we were scratching our heads thinking of what the torque motor is useful for, one of us happened to look up and see the exact same motor (same exact brand and model) on the air conditioning ducts. A quick check of some other rooms confirmed that these torque motors had been above my head in most of my math, science, and language classes for the past 3.5 years, and I'd probably stared at them during many of my more boring classes. Funny thing is, our climate control system never works well and seems to have only two settings -- 85 and 60, so these things can't work too well.

If we were to use it...
 

If our team were to use the torque motor, how would we connect it to the RC? The darn thing has a 5-pin connector! Also, would we even need to use a motor controller with it?

Another posibility.. Since we only get 2 servos this year, it can actually work as a very slow servo..