Simple 2-Speed 6WD for teams with few manufacturing resources

[Starke]

Thanks Madison!

Quote from @FRCDesigns

The Simple 2-Speed 6WD from FRC488 has been added to FRC Designs! Check it out! http://www.frc-designs.com/html/drives.html

Looks great! Love it!

A few questions:
1) Why 4"x2" wheels? Could 4"x1" work as well?
2) (From a business point of view) Why would you say this chassis is "better" than 1114's KoS?
3) If you were to name 3 distinct features about your chassis, what would they be?

Overall, great design, great features, great everything!

[Madison]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

Looks great! Love it!

A few questions:
1) Why 4"x2" wheels? Could 4"x1" work as well?
2) (From a business point of view) Why would you say this chassis is "better" than 1114's KoS?
3) If you were to name 3 distinct features about your chassis, what would they be?

Overall, great design, great features, great everything!

4x1" wheels could work just as well, but I used 4x2" for two reasons:
1. There's been some talk here lately about 4x2" wheels giving a bit more pushing power than 4x1" wheels and I was curious if they could be made to fit easily into a COTS frame
2. The wider wheel actually makes it possible to use COTS spacers for the axles. A narrower wheel would require spacers that are longer than are available from McMaster-Carr. It's trivial to buy longer stock and cut it down, but I like shopping, not machining

I wouldn't say that it's better than 1114's KoS. I've seen only their brief video about the KoS assembly, so I am not even entirely sure of what their recommendation requires. This was just my stab at the idea of an enhance Kitbot.

There are few things about it that are clearly different; it uses a shifting transmission instead of those included in the kit, it uses 4" wheels rather than 6" wheels and the transmission mount and tensioner design suck

Originally Posted by Madison

4x1" wheels could work just as well, but I used 4x2" for two reasons:
1. There's been some talk here lately about 4x2" wheels giving a bit more pushing power than 4x1" wheels and I was curious if they could be made to fit easily into a COTS frame
2. The wider wheel actually makes it possible to use COTS spacers for the axles. A narrower wheel would require spacers that are longer than are available from McMaster-Carr. It's trivial to buy longer stock and cut it down, but I like shopping, not machining

I wouldn't say that it's better than 1114's KoS. I've seen only their brief video about the KoS assembly, so I am not even entirely sure of what their recommendation requires. This was just my stab at the idea of an enhance Kitbot.

There are few things about it that are clearly different; it uses a shifting transmission instead of those included in the kit, it uses 4" wheels rather than 6" wheels and the transmission mount and tensioner design suck

I THINK we may end up using this this year, that is is 1114 doesn't release their KoS soon! (Karthik, that's your cue!)

IMO, just get correctly sized chain and the tensioners won't be needed. Once again, great job! Now let's try and see how you can make this better, since improvement is always fun!

EDIT: Madison, is there any way possible to make the attached file Mac-friendly? I can't seem to open it, and now that I've downloaded it's like waiting for a game hint 4 days before kickoff!

[Madison]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

I THINK we may end up using this this year, that is is 1114 doesn't release their KoS soon! (Karthik, that's your cue!)

IMO, just get correctly sized chain and the tensioners won't be needed. Once again, great job! Now let's try and see how you can make this better, since improvement is always fun!

EDIT: Madison, is there any way possible to make the attached file Mac-friendly? I can't seem to open it, and now that I've downloaded it's like waiting for a game hint 4 days before kickoff!

The C-Base makes it impossible to adjust the center-center distance between wheels, so while things are an even number of pitches between wheels, the gearbox isn't an even number of pitches without shimming it upward some. This might be fine, but the tensioners also up to get the chain away from the floor; it isn't always necessary to do that, but I try to do when I can.

What software are you using to to open the STEP file? STEP should be a platform neutral format.

Originally Posted by Madison

The C-Base makes it impossible to adjust the center-center distance between wheels, so while things are an even number of pitches between wheels, the gearbox isn't an even number of pitches without shimming it upward some. This might be fine, but the tensioners also up to get the chain away from the floor; it isn't always necessary to do that, but I try to do when I can.

What software are you using to to open the STEP file? STEP should be a platform neutral format.

IDK why, but my Mac says there is no application available to run the file, and I have A LOT of applications.

[Mk.32]

OSX doesn't really have a good program to open STEP with.
You generally need solidworks, inventor, ProE/Cero and none of those are for mac.

Originally Posted by Mk.32

OSX doesn't really have a good program to open STEP with.
You generally need solidworks, inventor, ProE/Cero and none of those are for mac.

Can it be made into a PDF, or does it not work that way?

[Mk.32]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

Can it be made into a PDF, or does it not work that way?

It doesn't work like that.
You need a CAD program as Madison said.
Try this thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hlight=CAD+MAC

[msimon785]

Try ida-step. Its not fantastic, but it does let you view universal .stp CAD data on a mac.

[Mk.32]

This may be of some interest.
http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0273.htm

[Madison]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

IDK why, but my Mac says there is no application available to run the file, and I have A LOT of applications.

Well, it's a CAD model -- so you'd need some variety of 3D CAD software. Solidworks, Creo, Inventor, CATIA, etc. should all open it without trouble. AutoCAD probably can't; nor can SketchUp. I am not sure about VectorWorks, but it's not really built for the mechanical design market, so who knows.

I'll see if I can't make a 3D PDF. I haven't tried that in awhile.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Madison

I wouldn't say that it's better than 1114's KoS. I've seen only their brief video about the KoS assembly, so I am not even entirely sure of what their recommendation requires. This was just my stab at the idea of an enhance Kitbot.

1114's KoS is essentially 6wd, 6in plactions, with toughboxes or Supershifters from AM. We used it in 2011 and loved the power it had over other robots. I feel like yours takes it to another level of steroids. It reminds me a lot of 2056's 2008 drivebase which I have been looking at a lot this off-season. http://www.2056.ca/photos.php?id=197...7440&offset=25

Are there any major differences in the supershifters over regular shifters?
Is there a reason for the double tensioners on the front chain run?
Any closer pics of the tensioner assembly?
Do you have an estimated speed?

Looks very clean simple! I love the simple mounting for the transmissions as that is my one peeve with COTS transmissions is getting them secured and still remain easy to work on!