AndyMark - NEW "Modulox" Gear Boxes

[Michael Blake]

WOW.

Looks like what we need as a second year FRC team...

What do the experienced folks out there think?


http://www.andymark.com/category-s/267.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNZF8O1zDco

[BrendanRadabaug]

we used the system last year on our gripper prototyping and a few final designs with our elevator and never had a problem with it. it was a great system for prototyping gear ratios fast. the Thru Blocks never slipped, even without Loctite.

[Chris is me]

Looks neat, but not for me personally. Can't beat a hand drill for a quick "power this mechanism" test, and for other parts we can just make a quick gearbox on a drill press.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Michael Blake

WOW.

Looks like what we need as a second year FRC team...

What do the experienced folks out there think?

I think it's important to make sure credit goes to iR3 Creative Engineering. For the Modulox stuff, AndyMark is the store, not the designer.

I'm not a gearhead, so I don't have a useful opinion on the product itself.

[Colin P]

Seems good for teams who like to optimize their gear ratios. Could be set on a proto-bot, played around with for a while, and switched out for a custom. Teams who don't already make custom gearboxes don't exactly need to run to the store and shell out 800 bucks for a pair of what I'd only see useful as a prototyping aid.

[Brandon Holley]

To me the standout opportunity is for prototyping, but the unfortunate downside is the price, which would probably be higher than most people want to spend on prototypes.

I really like the concept, let me see if I can cook up something up that they may be more functional in...

-Brando

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

To me the standout opportunity is for prototyping, but the unfortunate downside is the price, which would probably be higher than most people want to spend on prototypes.

I really like the concept, let me see if I can cook up something up that they may be more functional in...

-Brando

Depends on how reusable it is really. $400-$600 isn't bad if I can use it over 4 years.

[AdamHeard]

I agree it's not well suited for the comp bots of many teams, but could be nice to have as a dedicated prototyping/practice bot gearbox/testbed.

The price/weight is too high for the reduction you get. Still an awesome concept though, just the weight margins on FRC competition bots are too thin.

[JesseK]

$10 says we'll see one on a competition robot this coming year.

[wendymom]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

I think it's important to make sure credit goes to iR3 Creative Engineering. For the Modulox stuff, AndyMark is the store, not the designer.

I'm not a gearhead, so I don't have a useful opinion on the product itself.

I have to brag a bit and mention that IR3 is made up of 3 of Exploding Bacons founding mentors!!!

[Cory]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

I agree it's not well suited for the comp bots of many teams, but could be nice to have as a dedicated prototyping/practice bot gearbox/testbed.

The price/weight is too high for the reduction you get. Still an awesome concept though, just the weight margins on FRC competition bots are too thin.

I'd also be concerned with having no way to achieve the proper center to center distance if being used on a comp bot.

[Andrew Remmers]

Originally Posted by JesseK

$10 says we'll see one on a competition robot this coming year.

It was already used on our bot this year!

We designed it into the gripper, Elevator gearbox (which is a custom form or modulox I called it Gemulox) and every single hole on the drive train was also machined to be able to hold the Modulox bearing blocks in the event we had to use it for something, Turns out we did for our minibot .

- Andrew

[Dan Richardson]

The theory behind the Modulox Gearbox is to provide an educational tool set and prototyping test bed as well as provide a competitive alternative to teams that would otherwise not be able to design or build their own gearbox. Practices widely used in industry such as designing for Modularity, Flexibility and Optimization Capability are elements often missed in competitive robotic design. We believe that inability to optimize a design can keep teams from fine tuning their robots and can keep them from running with the big boys. Of the teams we've mentored we find that larger teams may have the funding or capability to buy or machine a new gearbox to refine torque, speed or placement issues. The smaller or newer teams are often left to put bandages on mechanisms that could require rethinking that the Modulox Concept allows. As mentioned there are some potential engineering trade off's in a modular design but we believe Modulox's performance is comparable to other off the shelf solutions.

We are also excited about the base component potential, outside the standard 1, 2 and 3 slot packaging. Brendan and Andrew already mentioned 1902 piloted the Modulox concept last year on their competition elevator and gripper prototypes. Both these applications used only the base components with custom designed plates. A bit later this year we plan on working with 1902, Exploding Bacon, to document exactly how their design worked and their results over the last season.

Building on the announcement, We've recently put together a new "About"
It's hosted here: http://www.youtube.com/user/iR3Creat.../0/XDcW1OCGexw

[Michael Blake]

Originally Posted by Stud Man Dan

The theory behind the Modulox Gearbox is to provide... a competitive alternative to teams that would otherwise not be able to design or build their own gearbox.

We are also excited about the base component potential, outside the standard 1, 2 and 3 slot packaging. Brendan and Andrew already mentioned 1902 piloted the Modulox concept last year on their competition elevator and gripper prototypes. Both these applications used only the base components with custom designed plates.

Dan, so I think you're saying that as a second year FRC team, we could prototype and iteratively change the gear boxes using the full Modulox kits... then, when we finalize/settle design we should replace the sliding gear box plates with custom plates, but, use the inner "guts" (gears, shafts, bearings, etc.) from the Modulox kit because the "guts" are competition quality... am I correct on this?

THANK YOU for your help!

[BrendanRadabaug]

Originally Posted by Michael Blake

Dan, so I think you're saying that as a second year FRC team, we could prototype and iteratively change the gear boxes using the full Modulox kits... then, when we finalize/settle design we should replace the sliding gear box plates with custom plates, but, use the inner "guts" (gears, shafts, bearings, etc.) from the Modulox kit because the "guts" are competition quality... am I correct on this?

THANK YOU for your help!

not Dan, but if you have the capability to integrate the modulox in to your robot design it can help save weight and look streamlined. but if your team does not have machining capabilities, like say using a kitbot the provided gearboxes do work well with mounting on one. we used the "guts" on our competition robot with no problems.