pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

I apologize if I'm missing the obvious, but aside from the gold coloring what modifications have been made to this transmission, and why did you make them?

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

Appears to be a 1st generation shifter, with its internal double sprocket, with the addition of an external extended output shaft, like a super shifter.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

This is an AM Shifter. It is normally gold.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

I didn't see the extended shaft on the first time around - thank you for pointing that out.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

This looks surprisingly lightweight. Perhaps replacing the cylinder with a smaller one would be good though.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

We made them simply for the fact that we had two given to us by a retired team, and it was a much cheaper process than buying new ones. I agree that a smaller piston would be desirable, but I'm not sure what would work as a replacement.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

If your looking for something more compact I'd recommend either:

Bimba Flat - 3/4 Bore (due to #10-32 male thread), could do 9/16" bore as well
FO-040.5-MT
or
VEXpro Pancake

You will probably have to modify spacer length as an FYI when switching to a pancake cylinder.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

These older gen-1 shifters are almost entirely steel (sideplates, gears, sprocket, shafts, dog, bearings, bolts) so they are actually quite heavy, but they are durable.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

I like it as an engineering exercise. Were you planning on using these for next season?

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

Yes, we are planning on using them for next season, and are currently in the process of building an off-season drive with them! It was a great way to learn Solidworks for my team, as we had to not only modify the gearboxes but put them on a WCD.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

My team will definitely look into these, thanks for your help! The current cylinder is much larger than it needs to be, and would take up a lot of space at the bottom of the drivetrain.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

To obey fab schedule rules, you will need to disassemble them to their original COTS state, and replace and redo any modified parts.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

I agree, this is the legal way of doing this.

A separate discussion altogether is, how many teams actually follow that vs teams that don't.

Re: pic: Modified AM Shifter Gearboxes
 

Funny you should mention this. It was about 1 year ago when I was looking a little closer at possible FRC participation and as a total FRC noob couldn't figure out why everyone on CD was showing off their new drives before kickoff. So I asked a question on CD and was politely told how off-season work could be done. Got a much better understanding now :rolleyes:

Still trying to figure out if it's really worth stepping up to FRC..... seems to me like the odds are stacked against 1st, 2nd and maybe even 3rd year teams.