Elevator Lift

[farmersvilleRob]

Well your looking at linear motion. You want linear motion. There are seperate ways of doing this:

Actuators! Some actuators are actually designed for linear motion such as pneumatics and linear servo actuators. Now, if your lifting off the floor, linear wouldn't work because it would get in the way of anything in the elevator or the elevators path.

Motors: motors, though circular motion, can be converted to linear with common things like a rack and pinion. All have their downsides, but when doing an elevator with a power source that's out of the way, a circular to linear conversion is the best considering if you engineer it right, it could scale the whole 5 feet maximum (or 84 inches depending on your side of the field). I don't know how to do this, we trashed the elevator details for other details, lol try googling rotational to linear.

Speed, RPM is what you need, but for strength (countering gravity), torque is the best. I would stay away from Igus because their parts are known to be flimsy and break easy. I wouldn't do conveyor either because it can jam easy. It's a true engineering problem which I stay away from, lol but there are LOADS of options.

[EricH]

Rob, he's looking at an elevator lift's construction, not motion. (If motion is what's being considered, it's hard to beat FP motors with stock gearboxes running a cable system via winch.)

I'd look at 80-20 and their sliders--or, better, 80-20 and 357's sliders from 2007 (see the Behind the Design book from that year). It's worth a look.

Then there's the C-channel and roller system. Take a C-channel, put a roller in one end (roller type is up to you, but a Delrin block might work). Make 3 more, set them up in pairs so both rollers in a pair are inside C-channel and the rollers are at opposite ends, then link the outside C-channels to each other and the inside C-channels to each other. Need an extra stage? Make 4 more channels, but weld the extra four back-to-back in pairs. (330's favorite lift method from 1999 to 2004.)

[farmersvilleRob]

Originally Posted by EricH

Rob, he's looking at an elevator lift's construction, not motion. (If motion is what's being considered, it's hard to beat FP motors with stock gearboxes running a cable system via winch.)

I'd look at 80-20 and their sliders--or, better, 80-20 and 357's sliders from 2007 (see the Behind the Design book from that year). It's worth a look.

Then there's the C-channel and roller system. Take a C-channel, put a roller in one end (roller type is up to you, but a Delrin block might work). Make 3 more, set them up in pairs so both rollers in a pair are inside C-channel and the rollers are at opposite ends, then link the outside C-channels to each other and the inside C-channels to each other. Need an extra stage? Make 4 more channels, but weld the extra four back-to-back in pairs. (330's favorite lift method from 1999 to 2004.)

My bad, and I do like the c channel design idea. But it doesnt hurt to go back to the basics of the ball's motion