A Simple Elevator

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

Bosch Rexroth extruded aluminum with Ecoslide carriages served as our (winch-driven) cascade lift in Overdrive and our (lead-screw-driven) robot lifter in Breakaway.

http://www13.boschrexroth-us.com/Fra...t.aspx?units=1

It was almost shameful how little manufacturing capability we needed to create either device, and both worked exactly as we designed them to. (Mind you, we've learned some about design in both cases, and would make them even better now -- but still might use these products.)

How was the durability of the pads on this? Did you notice that the tower was swaying when all the way up high?

When we made our lift with 8020, it was fast and came together nicely. However, it was heavy. One issue that was critical was that when the tower was at its maximum height, the tower would sway. We found that this was because of the play that would develop in the plastic slides (in all fairness, those slides are meant for compression loads). In short, would not do again.

One solution that I found nice was use the iGus products. If I had to do it again, I'd have to track down exactly the types to use, but IIRC, 1771 simply used some super-light c-channel lined with the iGus products. Worked like a charm.

- Sunny G.