Turreted Arms

[Jonathan Norris]

We are exploring the option of designing a turreted arm for this years game. Has anyone done this before or just made a turret in general? We haven't done this before so any suggestions on designs would be welcome as well as any pictures of a past turret that worked successfully.

Thanks

[George]

Hi

For what its worth,
your in finals, the driver is halling down field, the arm man flinches and the arm moves left, the driver thinks hard right ot straten out and ......hello wall!
no joy in mudville.
true story

Geo.

[zander_108]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Norris

We are exploring the option of designing a turreted arm for this years game. Has anyone done this before or just made a turret in general? We haven't done this before so any suggestions on designs would be welcome as well as any pictures of a past turret that worked successfully.

Thanks

yes, team 108 used turret last year.... It didnt work out... We Used a large round piece of honeycome alluminium, and it destroyed itself... I would highly recomend making it on a very sturdy bearing sysyem, as opposed to a lazy susan and such...

[BenjyPoore]

I dunno... 1519 used a lazy susan very successfully last year

[bear24rw]

Last year team 11 used a turret for our shooter.. it worked pretty well. We cut our own lexan gears and used a globe motor to turn it. Also, team 25 had an awsome turret for there shooter too

[Rob]

Hi,

Lazy Susan type turrets my have worked well last year, but most of the turrets were wide and low, and supported at multiple points. I would not use a lazy susan approach for an arm due to the large moments assosciated with long beams (arm segments)

I would recommend taking inspiration from teams that have had success with arms in the past. Off the top of my head I can think of team 45 (TechnoKats) from 2004 and 2005, and team 175 (Buzz) from 2005. These teams had great success with long turreted arms. I would search the galleries and forums for info on these designs.

Good luck and have fun!

RAZ

[Fred Sayre]

So a few years back we used something like this:



They use globe motors and have a high reduction. They were originally used for satellite dish positioning. They are pretty heavy, but we took one apart and were able to take the weight down. I apologize I don't have any exact figures for that.

They do provide really nice mounting options, and the decent sized through hole offers some unique possibilities

I found them here,
http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/index...OD&ProdID=1016
but it looks like they have stopped selling them. There was another place online selling them, but I can't seem to find it. These have been surplus items for years, so maybe people are finally running out of them. Stuff like this exists though that may help with making a more robust turret.

[kjohnson]

Team 401 (Hokies) used a turret in 2005. I can't seem to find any pictures at the moment. But they were able to turn it to pick up and place tetras, and won the VCU regional.

[ElfMaster]

Be careful using a lazy susan. Our robot got hit and we fell over. This resulted in the lazy susan bending -which causes all the bearings to fall out and a huge problem.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by BenjyPoore

I dunno... 1519 used a lazy susan very successfully last year

As did we. (237)

I'll post some pics later.

[Ted Boucher]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

As did we. (237)

I'll post some pics later.

For now, I will link these pictures with a short explaination.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/24113
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/23919
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/23219
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/23217
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/25671
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/25024
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/24988

The shooter is mounted on a custom made turret made of 1/4 inch aluminum. In between the 2 pieces of aluminum, we cut a circular grove in both plates, and inserted small delrin balls for the turret to roll on. The lower 1/4 inch plate is held stationary to the frame. The upper 1/4 inch plate is slightly larger and is rotated by a van door motor that uses the friction of a worn down 6 inch puematic wheel to smoothly rotate the plate. To secure the 2 plates together, we used 80/20, some 1/4 inch plate, a small dead shaft, and a bearing to just put enough pressure on the plates to keep them together (four of these were placed around the turret).

The turret never broke and we won many aways for its innovative design. If you have any other questions or want anymore detailed pictures, then feel free to PM me or send me an email at tedboucher@gmail.com .

[Jonathan Norris]

Thanks a lot for all your answers so far, what we are specifically looking for is turrets from 2005 or before, games that required arms. Teams that used turrets last year did not need to worry as much about the great forces involved in designing an arm turreted system. We are try to develop a system which will support a light arm well enough that it will be stable, and provide at least 90 degrees of movement (hopefully more). Any suggestions or recommendations welcome.

[MattB703]

I would highly recommend looking at 45's 2005 robot if you can find some pics. It was a very unique and elegant design solution to a turreted arm. The "turret" part of it was not at the base. They had tower structure with a shaft inside some bearings. The "shoulder" joint was at the top of the shaft. I was impressed, but then it IS the Technokats after all!

Matt B.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/21868

[Toolman]

Team 870 used the turret system in the tetra game.
It was very good and was the only bot that could right itself if knocked over in competition. it was also very veryt strong and could reach 10' high.
check out the www.rice870.com site for those of you wishing to see the bot.
good luck with it.

We are not using a turret this year. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of the turret. good luck

[ajlapp]

turrets are great......they allow you to seperate chassis and arm movement for a more versatile scoring system. i'll link to some team rush designs......also, search the media area for turret tags. there are lots out there.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/23193
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/22693
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/20005
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/17063
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/16922

enjoy.