Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

To avoid confusion, the specific model Adam refers to is the AM Gen1 or AM Gen2 shifter; the AM SuperShifter has the dog gear on an additional intermediary shaft instead of the output shaft.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

Kind of curious with the post of this thread, how is this development coming along.

How is the belt routed inside the tube? Is it possible to get a picture similar to the one posted in the thread above?

Is the belt lasting? How long does it take to replace a belt?

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

As far as durability goes the belts have shown no signs of wear or anything to be concerned about, and we haven't had to adjust tension at all since the first time we tensioned the belts.

We haven't had to replace a belt yet, but we are currently looking into several different methods to make replacement fast.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

I really like the unique layout of your transmission and the compact setup. You mentioned that you use "shortened body pancake cylinders for the shifters within the gearbox". Just curious...are these cylinders legal in an FRC competition robot?

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

To the Winnovation guys regarding the hex broach through the UHMW wheels.1251 has a lot of R&D into UHMW material espeically regarding using them as wheels, see our 2007 robot. I can tell you the hex will not last especially playing as many matches as you guys do during a season. My suggestion is developing another keying method, bolting on alumnium hex hub adapters or just making the wheels out of alumnium. Also, avoid pressing things such as bearings or hubs into the UHMW in drive applications as the material is oil impregnated which makes doing something like that difficult, it is doable but on something that needs to be as reliable with as much torque as a drive system I don't recommed it. Overall the design is nice and clean looks like something great to build on. Good luck in 2011.

-Drew D.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

Drew,

The UMHW wheels were from the perspective of "oh hey we need wheels but don't want to spend any significant amount of money on stock" so UMHW was the cheap route taken for the prototype. During the season they would definitely be aluminum, thanks for the warnings we'll be careful using it elsewhere.

M. Mellot,

The pneumatics rules these past two years have relaxed quite a bit (as opposed to other sections of the manual :rolleyes: )
The basic requirements for pistons include,
being rated for >125psi and
"Cylinders may be of any configuration, and may be of any size up to a maximum of 24-inch stroke and 2-inch diameter."

So we're taking advantage of that rule to use a easier to integrate form factor, after all who doesn't like pancakes.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

254 and us legally used 3 position versions of the same cylinders this year, 1625 is in the clear here.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

3 position pistons? :eek:

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

Yes, Mr. James 3 position pistons :D 254 used them in there drive gearbox which has 2 speeds and also doubled as their gearbox for hanging. The design work was absolutely beautiful. Not sure the use for 973 they may have done somthing similiar, Ill let Adam handle that one.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

See page 18. Pretty awesome. I didn't know these were commercially available.
http://fabco-air.com/pdf/pancake_II_web.pdf

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

Oh, very cool. An OTS solution that is almost exactly how we rigged up some 3-position pistons in our last robot. Very nice indeed.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

Well, similar maybe, but the Bimba ones are great. They were so small and compact. Downside was the price, about $80 each after taxes and shipping.

For reference, 254 and us independently designed very similar gearboxes, but they were the ones who found the pancake 3 position cylinders, we were designing around the original like based 3 position which are much larger and clunkier.

We both had a dog based power takeoff on top, and we used the 3 position to nuetral the drive when the PTO was engaged.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

Thanks, everyone, for the information on those cylinders!

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

"Impressive. Most Impressive."

Honestly, this looks like an awesome drive train. The gearboxes may be a much greater improvement over the Supershifters/Toughboxes that we use. And it looks like it has accommodations for a PTO for versatility. These are my first impressions. I'll need to carefully analyze this drive train, but right now it looks great! Good job.

Re: Winnovation Midwest Coast Drive
 

where you pleased with the gen shifter? I am liking the looks of the Supershifter. any problems you had with it or tips?