pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

Are those motors driving bevel gears or a worm gear?

EDIT: Nevermind, helps when you read the whole post. ::rtm::

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

They are driving bevel gears

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

This is really cool. This looks very similar to 192's gearbox from 2012. It might be useful to contact them on their design.

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

Do you have any higher resolution photos or CAD models you are willing to share? I'm intrigued and would like to dig a little deeper into how you designed these.

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

I would be willing to post the CAD just as long as everyone knows this is still very much a work in progress and as it sits right now it will not work but the basic design is correct. I will pack up my files and upload them to google drive now.

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

Here is the link. My file origination is a mess right now but open Gear-box.iam and that should give you the most up to date assembly.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7j...it?usp=sharing

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

Thank you so much. I can appreciate the fact that it is a work in progress, and I was mainly hoping to take a look at how you had the insides of the gearbox arranged. Best of luck to you with finishing the design!

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

My first though was, what bevel gear are you using. More importantly have you found one you plan to use or is it still theoretical.

Having experimented with this kind of space saving, we eventually came to the concussion that the most efficient method is to flip the motors around. 971 did this in '12 and '13 and our ball shifting gearbox copied that this year. (The most similar example may be Texas torque's gearbox from last year, I believe it was a vex ball shifter with custom plates so the motors hung over the wheels)

That said, I really like this and the out of the box thinking behind it. It reminds me of the things I thought about when planning 192's '12 and '13 gearboxes. I've worked with right angle drives, the construction technics you seem to be using and bevel gears so let me know if you have any questions. :)

Re: pic: Low Profile VEX Ball Shifter
 

I am glad you like it and as for the bevel gears I am using CAD files from here (http://www.qtcgears.com/KHK/newgears/KHK228_2.html) the CIM bevel gears are a bored out and key way broached "Pinion Shaft" as called on the website and the larger bevel gear is drilled out and broached to a 1/2" hex, so some modification will be needed but nothing beyond the range of a FIRST team with decent manufacturing capabilities. Working on getting everything lined up and working then I will go through and make it look pretty because we all know that counts :D