forklift system trouble!

[jejohnson]

Please email Team 1758 your slides. We have used articulated arms in the past but want to try a forklift system this year.
Thanks Jim Johnson jejohnson@fsd1.org

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

Most lifts are of two types CASCADE or CONTINUOUS and they are moved up and down with a cable or in some cases a chain...

They are not real difficult to undertake but do require some calculations to determine the tension in the cables because it is not as straight forward as you might think.

We are making ours out of square aluminum extrusion...with chain for the bottom section and a cascade cabling system for the top three sections.

Send me an IM with your email and I can send you a workshop set of slides about mechanisms that might give you some ideas...

We will use two 550 motors with a transmission and a chain reduction to power ours up and down.

Remember you must (if you want it to work well) Power the lift UP AND DOWN...

Friction is a killer as well as racking concerns.

We actually made a lift in 2008 out of a ladder but wouldn't recommend it... (too heavy)

Make the upper sections lighter than the lowers if possible... and keep everything that is moving as LIGHT as possible...

let me know if I can help more..

[pfreivald]

Our 2007 forklift used Bosch Rexroth extruded aluminum (similar to 80/20, but metric) with delrin sliders and slider carriages.

We used Rexroth sliders again last year for our lift, and it was tremendously reliable.