I've noticed that many teams use sealed encoders with ball bearing supported input shafts (mostly
Grayhill 63R and
US Digital S4) [
1][
2][
3][
4][
5][
6]. But our team still have several
E4P from AndyMark floating around.They break easily and require very specific/percise/careful mounting, so I've drawn up a part that transforms the E4P into a bearing supported shaft encoder to (hopefully) make use of the E4P sitting around.
In the attachments from left to right:
- The assembled view
- The cutaway view: Green = Shaft machined from 1/4'' Aluminum round stock, Pink = 250 id 375 od bearing (VexPRO 217-2788 will do), Turquoise = McMaster 97414A630 C-Clip (or the extra ones included in the Ball Shifter package), White = 3D Printed or Machined housing.
- Comparison with S4-X-250-X-S-B (model from US Digital site) and Grayhill 63R (model from VexPRO ball shifter stp)
- Transformed encoder mounted on the Ball Shifter (no need for the US Digital mounting kit)
Some questions to CD:
- Is this a good or terrible idea? Will it help at all?
- Was this done before by other teams?
- Will the threads print well on a 3D printer? Anyone have experience 3D printing nuts and bolts? The current thread is 1/2-32, the same as the Grayhill encoder. A simple change in variable value in the CAD file can turn it into some other pitch.
I will make some when I get a chance (which, unfortunately, would be after kickoff when school starts)
Any suggestion/criticism/feedback is greatly appreciated.