Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

One of the things that impressed me reading through this was how much care and effort was put into manufacturing prototypes-- 254's prototypes (from the videos) looked nicer and worked better than most of my team's finished mechanisms! Excuse me while I learn again why 254 is a world-class team.

This was a real treat to read.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

"Lab closing time for the night was… 11:30 AM (Yes, AM)"

Apparently you folks put in some late nights and early mornings this past season.

These blogs are absolutely fascinating. It's great to see inside the Cheesy Poofs' shop and get a look at just how organized and hard working the team is.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

WOW. Just simply, wow.

That was a great read! It's on the list of things to do prior to kickoff.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

The scrolling issues have been fixed. Sorry about that.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

I'm interested in some more details regarding the encoders on the drivetrain. They look to be US Digital S4 encoders, however I don't see a mount for the body, how are they mounted to the frame?

Kelly

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

As far as I know many west coast teams drill a hole into the drive shaft, push the encoder into the hole, and then zip tie the wire to the belly pan. No mount is needed.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

It's how we did it for our offseason robot. It's great. The only word of caution is to make sure you've got a good fit between the hole and the encoder shaft. If its too loose, it will easily fall out. If its too tight, you'll bend the shaft when trying to insert it. We marred up the encoder shafts using vise grips to make it easier to get a nice press fit.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

Correct, we do this almost everywhere.

Sometimes we use a standoff as a post next to the encoder body to make it easier to lock torsionally.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

So if I'm understanding this correctly, the encoder is just floating or resting on something?

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

It's generally just floating, with whatever's holding onto the wire (typically a ziptie) providing the tiny amount of force needed to keep the encoder from spinning with the axle.

The idea behind this is to not mechanically over-constrain the encoder, as rigidly mounting the encoder as well as pressing its shaft into the axle would do.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

Do you guys have any pictures of said West Side sorcery? We East Side folks be wondering. ;)

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

You can sort of see it here. Look at the last picture in the original post. There's no mount. The bore for the encoder is a tight fit (just under press fit) and the encoder wire is zip tied to the baseplate.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

That looks mighty...sketchy. I suppose the fact that so many people use this method speaks to its validity, but doesn't the encoder want to spin with the axle? While I expect that the zipped down wires help some of that, I can't help but think that there's a little wiggle in there.

- Sunny G.

Re: Team 254 Presents: 2013 Build Blog
 

Even if it does wiggle, it really can't wiggle enough to mess up 15 seconds of driving.