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Unread 18-12-2014, 09:59
MattRain MattRain is offline
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Re: [FTC]: Drawer slides as a linear lift

Quote:
Originally Posted by atucker4072 View Post
How heavy is this? We would like it to be light as possible. Have you done it without using the sheet metal in between?
We actually have four 16inch slides in there. It is a little heavy, but we run this lift with 2 tetrix motors, no problem.

We have found that constructing them this way is the lightest weight that we can make them, along with not taking a whole lot of space..

In the picture, the last pulley that is up in the air to the left, is actually strung wrong. When it is strung right, all four slides move at the same time. With 1 inch of lift on the main slide, means 4 inches in all. Makes for a very quick lift.

If you do decided to go with drawer slides, I have this:

Granted with these slides, we have noticed a small sag in them after a few months of use, but was an easy fix, and we have only had to do it once. There is a small tab at the bottom of the slides that stops all the metal from falling off the back. This piece of metal is thin and not meant to hold all the weight of the slides and extra metal. Drawer slides were not meant to be used vertically on robots like teams have been doing, but they are perfect.

You just need to take care of the slides, and they will work great. Just like any other lift that you would make...
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