[Josh Siegel]

From what I understand, you have:

Continuous design-
Pro: Moves evenly but slowly, as more cable must be moved in order to fully extend. Has been recommended over cascading by two engineers. Identical speed up and down, so one drum (of a larger diameter) may be used.
Con: More cable must be moved in the same amount of time, requiring a faster motor to keep the extension speed the same.


Cascade design –
Pro: Moves evenly, less likely to jam, less cable needs to be moved in order to fully extend.
Con: Lots of tension in the cable, extension and retraction cables both have different speeds requiring two different drums of differing diameters. Require lots of crimps that can potentially go wrong.


The black dots are where the cable is fixed, and the green circles are pulleys. The large green circle is a drum powered by the motor(s).