Originally Posted by Molten (Post 885467)

I guess how you have the shaft driven really depends on the motors your using and the space you have. 1766 made a robot in 2007 that was a direct drive system and it worked great. The only problem was that we had about a 1 inch clearance in between the two motors. If you don't have room for it, there really isn't much loss in using gears. One suggestion is to mount the rotating center on a bearing so that the downward force isn't being applied to the motor. I know this might seem like common sense, but I've certainly overlooked things like this before. So far, I've gotten lucky. But I've been trying to not push my luck.

Originally Posted by John_1102 (Post 885507)

you dont need pneumatic tubing the aluminum bars that came in the kit use those it'll work fine.

Originally Posted by JesseK (Post 885536)

The team doing a helix that I mentor uses a ziptie tree with the zipties cut very short, and the helical ramp cut to where it barely catches the bottom cusp of the ball. The zipties flex sideways and make plenty of contact with the ball, yet make no contact with the ramp. There are also plenty of ways to soften them up further if necessary.

Too many zipties is also an issue and will bog your motor down. Gearing is key so your intake can keep up with your drive train.