Attaching AM Super shifters to chassis

[GarrettF2395]

I'm curious of different ways that teams have attached the AndyMark Super shifters to their chassis. I am mainly interested in ways that allow for direct driving to the wheels and leave it in the original casings.
Similar to how team 330 mounted theirs last year (see link).
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/img...6fce0983_l.jpg

If you could help me by explaining your teams method of mounting them, any problems you encountered, how they performed, and alternative ideas for mounting them it would be greatly appreciated.

*I'm mainly looking for experienced opinions from people who have worked with SS before.*

Thanks in advance!

[Garrett.d.w]

I literally just designed this today
So here it is. It mounts on the outside of the case using the four screws that hold the SS case together. This model is by no means finished (or tested), but we have done something similar in the past. Hope that this sparks someone's imagination.

If you wan't to pursue this I can upload the finished version of this tomorrow (with a SS shown).

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Garrett.d.w

I literally just designed this today
So here it is. It mounts on the outside of the case using the four screws that hold the SS case together. This model is by no means finished (or tested), but we have done something similar in the past. Hope that this sparks someone's imagination.

If you wan't to pursue this I can upload the finished version of this tomorrow (with a SS shown).

I'm no fabrication expert, but how exactly do you envision building that? There may be a way for all I know, but I'm not seeing it right now.

[Chris Fultz]

We have replaced the standard bolts and bolted through our frame with either 2,3 or 4 bolts, depending on our chassis.

[thefro526]

We bolted ours right to the frame using slightly longer bolts than supplied by AM. Never had an issue, though, if I were going to do it again, I wouldn't bolt through the transmission, just through the face plate. Makes some service work a bit easier when one of the plates is still rigidly mounted.

Here's a picture of our 2011 mounting: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/36163

[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by thefro526

I were going to do it again, I wouldn't bolt through the transmission, just through the face plate. Makes some service work a bit easier when one of the plates is still rigidly mounted.

I am not sure how you would do this. The existing bolts are thru bolts. Bolting thru the complete transmission makes sure the case stays "tight" and the gears stay aligned.

[Gray Adams]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I'm no fabrication expert, but how exactly do you envision building that? There may be a way for all I know, but I'm not seeing it right now.

You could weld it, or there's always the expensive way.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

I am not sure how you would do this. The existing bolts are thru bolts. Bolting thru the complete transmission makes sure the case stays "tight" and the gears stay aligned.

Sorry. I was a little vague here. We discussed ways to make shifter maintenance a little easier by our second competition and one of them was to drill two extra holes in the outer face plate and use those for mounting. The through bolts would then just hold the trans together, meaning we could take the trans apart without removing the shaft to the center wheel. (Having to pull the center wheel was a big PITA on our 2011 robot, good thing we only did it once)

[Starke]

Originally Posted by GarrettF2395

I'm curious of different ways that teams have attached the AndyMark Super shifters to their chassis. I am mainly interested in ways that allow for direct driving to the wheels and leave it in the original casings.
Similar to how team 330 mounted theirs last year (see link).
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/img...6fce0983_l.jpg

FRC Designs (http://www.frc-designs.com/) has a few CAD designs of robots that use varying methods. Check out the 2011 CAD Robot Page and Drives page for more information. I hope this helps!

[Garrett.d.w]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I'm no fabrication expert, but how exactly do you envision building that? There may be a way for all I know, but I'm not seeing it right now.

Lets just say that the year that we did this, our Boeing mentor got lucky with the scrap pile and found a piece that only had to be slightly modified to make this work. Otherwise, it would be impractical (which is easier to see now then it was at about 1PM).

Long story short, disregard my earlier post. Way to expensive/ impractical to manufacture.

[Ninja_Bait]

Originally Posted by Garrett.d.w

Lets just say that the year that we did this, our Boeing mentor got lucky with the scrap pile and found a piece that only had to be slightly modified to make this work. Otherwise, it would be impractical (which is easier to see now then it was at about 1PM).

Long story short, disregard my earlier post. Way to expensive/ impractical to manufacture.

You could weld (or maybe rivet?) a c-channel to a flat plate, but in that case you could just attach the c-channel directly to the existing faceplate of the SS, which might work for something. So it's not a wholly bad idea, you just don't have the best implementation.