Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Blake
Dan, so I think you're saying that as a second year FRC team, we could prototype and iteratively change the gear boxes using the full Modulox kits... then, when we finalize/settle design we should replace the sliding gear box plates with custom plates, but, use the inner "guts" (gears, shafts, bearings, etc.) from the Modulox kit because the "guts" are competition quality... am I correct on this?
THANK YOU for your help!
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Building off of what Brendan said, there are many potential ways to use the Modulox Gearboxes and all the components are competition quality. I'm not sure if there is any reason a team would have to change to a custom gearbox unless the application approached or exceeded the linear force capabilities of the gearbox which is currently around 1,300 lbs. ( You can see the video here
http://www.youtube.com/user/iR3Creat.../2/NO6IIaa84Ok )
There is potential outside the three base kits to build the slots into a frame rail, chassis, mechanism or custom made plates. As Brendan mentioned teams have the capability to machine their own slots, and it doesn't take an extremely high precision machine method to do so.
1902 used Modulox on 2 dynamic mechanisms, the first being a prototype roller gripper and the second was on their elevator. The prototype gripper can be seen Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hF-WXeyuyk
On the gripper, Modulox was used in two ways, the first was to help find a speed/torque that worked and the other was to determine the wheel spacing for the correct clamping force on the tube. Too loose, it wouldn't grab, too tight it would pop a tube, but modulox was able to make it just right. The gripper in the video was eventually swapped for banebot motors ( instead of cims ) and then later, to save some additional weight, it was further optimized with a sprocket and chain with all the geometry based off the original modulox prototypes. I may be biased but I think it's a cool example of designing for modularity, flexbility and continuing to optimize a design until you are comfortable enough to lock it in.
The second example is on their elevator. This was an high torque application which was fed by an AM-GEM Planetary gearbox. They had a dual chain system which needed to reverse direction but weren't sure if they would need any additional gearing off the GEM to account for friction or un-accounted for weight. They designed a "GEM-U-LOX" plate that was able to accommodate the gearing. The design was light weight and incorporated directly into their base structure they never needed to optimize this design. This is a great example of you can utilize the "Guts" or the bearing blocks, back blocks, through blocks, shafts and gears right out of the kit to fit your needs.
I hope this adds some additional clarity of how you might use a kit or the parts. During the next few month's we will be demonstrating potential and past usages so feel free to check Modulox.com for updates.