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Re: Calculating Linear Force from Motor Torque?
You could build a regional winning FRC bot this year with no one in your team having more than a 8th grade math education, given a few people on the team fairly familiar with FRC rules of thumb. Frankly, I think you might even be able to get away with a 4th grade math education.
However, this fact completely misses the point of FRC. FRC is one of the few places where students are actually asked to challenge themselves and apply what they've learned. It's been awesome for me to see how different things I've learned in math class (trig, differential equations, etc) apply to robot design, and it's motivated me to continue to do well in the classroom.
If you want to build a well engineered robot (which isn't necessary to win a regional), these types of calculations are extremely important. In fact, you can argue that this discussion of DC motors only scratches the surface in terms of design for DC motors (current draw, changes in performance at different voltages, factoring in acceleration of the motor under load, etc are all great things to look into). Without this type of basic knowledge, you're flying blind. If you don't want to rebuild gearboxes a few times each season because you're cooking motors, do your homework, and actually look at torque requirements and safety factors. It looks like Adam's presenting the math a bit formally (which is really the right way to do it), but don't get scared by a few equations. It's honestly not that hard.
Adam, although I've never built an elevator, a FOS of 4 sounds a bit conservative. I'd assume a FOS of 2 would work well from just general FRC experience. Of course, I'm sure you've had a lot more experience with elevators than me.
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The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted.
-Plutarch
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