[James3245]

2 related questions as we consider the sonic shifter.

A.
One of the decisions related to AM super shifter or sonic shifter (vs. options of other vendors) is the different pneumatic actuator for shifting.

We've used both types of pneumatic actuators over the years and have not seen one to be more effective or more reliable than the other. Both types have worked fine for us.

Is there any advantage of pancake shifter (compared to typical cylinder required of AM shifters) other than more compact form factor?

B. Steel Gears vs. Aluminum

Aluminum saves weight and that can be a critical consideration. However, a bit of savings in weight is less important to us than robustness.

If weight is taken out of consideration, are the wear characteristics of aluminum gears (available by the typical robotics vendors) close enough to steel to be left out of the comparison pros and cons?

I'm not talking about outer-edge use cases, just a typical FRC shifting drivetrain for a game that has some pushing. (no automatic shifting). We've used both aluminum gears (in VEX products) and steel gears (in AM products) in past.